Auction of Thieves
by Amur Leopard
Summary: Set during Uncharted 4. When a young woman finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time she gets dragged into an adventure she never wanted any part of. With tensions high, she must now risk her life and help find the treasure or she might never get home...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, this is my first go at an Uncharted story which I hope you will enjoy. I shall be interested to see what you think so if you feel like leaving a review then that would make me very happy. The story is complete and I shall be putting up a chapter a week if everyone is happy with that. The story is set during Uncharted 4 and follows my character and how she gets swept up in the story. So without further ado, please read on.

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 **Chapter 1**

It had been quite a while since I had had to dress up in the manner of fashion that would enable me to get into such an event. Yet at auctions such as the one I was pulling up to, I knew from experience, it was better to look like you owned half of Europe. These people had deep pockets and were not the sort of people to outbid, especially if you valued your life. So if you were going to do so, you better have the money to back up your bid and you better look like you had it too.

The limo came to a stop and the young man came round to open the door for me. He proffered his hand to me as I stepped out, dark silver heels followed by a deep blue dress. My light brown hair was done up, my makeup applied more generously then I would usually like, but with the look I was going for I had decided it was better.

"Just park up and wait for me, ok?" I said to my driver, who nodded, though the expression on his face suggested he did not like being told the obvious.

Taking a calming breath I walked up the steps, casually eyeing the armed guards posted about the place. They made me uneasy but I pushed on, removing my invite from my clutch bag and handing it to the man near the door. He nodded and indicated for me to enter into the large white marble entrance hall. I noticed steps led off either side as I walked between the signs that said welcome in various languages, though it appeared only the ones to the left were accessible to guests. To my right, just before you entered into the main room where the auction was to take place and where already many people were milling about, there was a cloakroom. The man stood waiting to take coats, I assumed, but he seemed more interested in attempting to chat up ladies then actually taking anyone's coat.

I made my way to the main room, the techno beat reaching my ears the closer I got. The place was crowded and the amount of bodies made it rather warm. Upon reaching the bottom of the few steps that led down into the hall, a waitress in a ruby red waistcoat, white shirt and black skirt offered me a tray of champagne. I felt like declining, but I knew better then to do so.

With my glass in hand I began to casually peruse the room, observing the people with an air of vague interest. Men and women making polite conversation or eyeing each other up when their seeming other halves were not looking. A room of the corrupt and the crooked and then I paused, my facial recognition system kicking in. I had to be mistaken I thought, but then the person turned and I knew I knew them. Just slightly older, slightly greyer and for once in a suit. I smiled and made a beeline for them.

"Well, well," I said, causing the person to turn. "I never expected to find you in a place like this, Mr Sullivan."

"And why not?" he asked with a smile, his American accent clearly evident.

"Well, personally I always thought you were too nice for this type of crowd," I replied, a smile playing on my lips.

"Oh did you now," he said, taking a puff from his cigar that he held in his right hand. "You sure it has nothing to do with the prices?"

I smiled and he gave me a wink.

"So how about yourself, Miss Cook?" he asked casually. "Last time we met you didn't have the sort of scratch they bid here either."

"Let's just say tonight I'm good," I replied to which he raised an eyebrow, but did not press any further. He took a swig of his drink and opened his mouth as if to engage in further conversation when he paused as something caught his eye. I swung round and spotted the auctioneer was overseeing the first items for sale being displayed on the stand before the crowd. I swung back to see Sullivan's brow furrowing.

"Mr Sullivan?" I questioned.

He replied without taking his eyes from the stand.

"I'm sure I've told you before Freya, call me Sully."

"Sully?" I tried again and his focus came back to me. "Is something wrong?"

"They've changed the order of the lots," he said, pointing to the items on display. "It would take a very large amount to make them do that."

"So…what, the auction is rigged?" I said slowly, watching his face as it became a mask before he just shrugged and smiled.

"Not surprising considering the crowd," he said, gesturing around before finishing his drink. "Anyway, might as well get a refill. I think it's going to be a long night. May see you later."

I nodded and he left, moving away towards the bar. I sighed; he was probably right, especially if they had changed the lot order. It was strange to see him there, though I cannot say I was not happy to see him either. A friendly face in a sea of sharks was always a welcoming sight.

I moved away from the stage and found myself a pillar near the back of the room, sipping my champagne slowly. Now all I had to do was wait.

Time ticked by slowly as I waited. Several men had made an attempt to be rather more friendly then I liked, but they seemed to get the hint after I casually threw what remained of my champagne in one of the more persistent one's face. Having been given a new glass and finally being free of unwanted advances, I happened to spot Sully reappearing from the entrance hall, down the steps. I got the feeling however that he was not alone as my eyes picked out a new face that I recognised. This face was even more surprising for as far as I knew he had retired from the business, but there was no mistaking the handsome visage of Nathan Drake. He and Sully casually wound their way through the crowd and into the back of the room beyond the pillars. I tried to be subtle as I lent further to the side of the pillar I had chosen and glanced back with curiosity. Sully and Nate were next to the door that I assumed led to the cellars along with another man who I noticed, however casual he was trying to be, was definitely with them. He was taller then Nate, same colour hair though the man's was a little longer and he appeared to be slightly older; his face more weathered but still reasonably handsome.

Nate looked as if he tried to open the door, but it was locked and the three of them looked disgruntled for a mere moment before they all suddenly took on a casual air as the door opened and a waiter appeared carrying a bottle of something. The waiter then came towards my pillar and I glanced away quickly into the crowd. He paused to chat to a lady before he moved off further into the room and as he did, I saw that both Nate and the other man were following. After several moments of them following him around, the second man chose to distract the waiter and Nate accomplished whatever they had been trying to do. They headed back to the door and as the second man passed me, his eyes met mine for moment before ignoring me again. I paused before glancing around carefully to see they had achieved their goal of entering through the doors into the cellars and Sully was now coming back into the main room. I sighed and hoped whatever they were up to, that it would not disrupt the evening, but knowing what Nate was like, it was not likely to end well. I moved out into the crowd and made a notion of taking interest in the ice sculptures that decorated a few of the tables. As I did so I noticed a woman approach Sully and make her hand into a gun before engaging him in conversation. They chatted quite amicably however, her South African accent showing, and it was obvious he knew her. She nudged him and offered to get him a drink, which he accepted and she headed away towards the bar. It was as she did that Sully, still watching her walk away, then appeared to talk to himself. Something was definitely going on.

Paddles were handed out and the auctioneer began the auction by starting with the golden ball thing that was next to a cross. People began bidding, the evening had officially started. I glanced around the room again noting Sully's woman had come back with a couple of drinks and they continued to chat. Clearly they were not interested in the ball thing either. After it was sold they took a short break before moving on to the next item, assumedly to check the winning bidder's details were taken. Then came the next item, the Arabic looking knife, I say that because my Father had one a bit like it from there, but I doubt it was worth anything near the price this one seemed to be going for. I was only grateful it was not the lot I was interested in. I took to looking at my notes again on that lot and when it was meant to be. I looked again at the current items on display and began trying to find where they had originally been to try and give me some idea of how much had changed. It was then I discovered it only appeared to be one item that had changed. The cross on display with the gold man, St Dismas the information said, had been moved up the list, almost to the beginning. It seemed an odd item to be so desired that someone was prepared to pay to get it moved to pretty much the front of the queue. It did not interest me however in the slightest.

"In a few moments we shall begin bidding on our next item…" started the auctioneer making me look up. "an inlaid wooden crucifix from the Trott Estate."

Suddenly a glass smashed to the floor and I turned rapidly to find Sully engaged in a heated discussion with another American man in a tux. He seem violently angry and I felt my hand move for the clasp on my bag as almost everyone present felt the threat of his words, but I stopped as the woman seemed to take control of the situation. Sully backed off and the room seemed to edge back into general chatter. I looked to Sully but he seemed to be fine yet I found I kept an eye on where the angry man was from then on. I knew without any doubt I certainly wished to avoid him.

Finally the auctioneer's voice sounded though the speakers once again silencing the room. It was the cross's turn. I glanced about the room as the bidding began and had to do a recheck as I suddenly noticed something that was not quite right. There was a waiter stood near to the podium and normally I would not have given it much notice had my facial recognition system not gone off. On the second look I realised why for it was the second man I had seen with Sully and Nate dressed now as a waiter. This could not be good. I saw his eyes meet mine and then glance away again as he tried to look casual, though it seemed to be working for no one else seemed to have noticed. I now focused my attention on the bidders and realised that one of them was 'angry man'. He seemed to have succeeded with a bid of ninety thousand euros and the auctioneer was about to wrap up when a new bid came in. I turned and looked towards the new bidder to find to my concern it was none other then Sully. This had gone past being 'not good', all the way to 'oh my god, what the f*** are you doing!'

Up the price went and I started to wonder if I was going to have to give up on my own planned endeavour to save my friend from a grievous mistake. It had just reached two hundred and ten thousand euros when 'angry man' bid a whopping five hundred thousand. The auctioneer and 'angry man' looked to Sully to see if he would bid again, but to my relief Sully did a gracious little signal of 'it's all yours' and admitted defeat.

"Had me worried there for a minute, Victor," said 'angry man' almost casually. "Thought I might have to kill you!"

The room laughed but I knew, as I was sure Sully knew, it was no joke. Yet the fact he had just decided to give up failed to explain why their friend was pretending to be a waiter. Something just did not sit right with me.

As the auctioneer made to sell it to 'angry man' however, I got my answer as the entire room plunged into darkness to the gasps and cries of those present.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm," announced the auctioneer, yet I knew this was no ordinary power outage. "The backup power will come on shortly."

The lights did indeed start to come back on but as they did someone called out.

"It's gone!"

Which of course it had, along with the fake waiter and as I turned, I spotted Sully leaving through the rapidly closing cellar door too. I was not the only one as 'angry man' ran towards the door.

"Move it! Get out of the way!" he snarled, shoving people out his way. "Stop him! Hey…stop that guy!"

The guard by the door said something, I assumed in Italian or something like that, but 'angry man' ignored him.

"What're you doing?" he snapped. "You're letting him get away! Do you speak-!"

His speech cut short as the guard raised his gun and pointed it in his face.

"Sparisci!" snapped the guard.

Or it sounded like that, I didn't catch it properly.

"Fine," said 'angry man' backing away. He turned and chucked his paddle to the ground as he returned towards the crowd. I looked away and sighed. They were already locking down the ballroom and this meant I was unlikely to get what I'd come for.

It turned out I was exactly right, people started panicking as soon as the guards called a lockdown and those who had been milling about in the entrance hall and some who were upstairs during the bidding now ran for the parking lot. Yet what could I expect from such people, they had not survived this long in the game not to know when to run. I knew that I could not stay there, I had to get out too. However the guards were not going to let us just go though, I would have to be careful if I planned to leave still in one piece.

We were stuck, peoples' desperation was starting to show and some even appeared to think about charging the guards, but the guns made them reconsider. It was then something large and made of glass shattered somewhere which alerted guards. We knew because we heard it come through on the radios of those guards present. Next gun shots resounded close by and the room turned hysterical. Suddenly people were moving and all hell broke loose as people ran for the door. As I legged it with the throng of people across the entrance hall and out into the car park, I realised the guards were letting us leave. It seemed they had acquired their target and we were no longer their concern. It was a relief, but it was short lived. I soon discovered my driver had freaked out upon seeing a mass of people charging out the doors and hearing gun shots going off about the place and so had fled…without me. I swore. I was stranded and no way was I asking one of these people to give me a lift, but that left the other option of possibly incorporating bullets into my current look. Nope that was not an option. I had to think, what on earth was I going to do.

I was panicking, looking around for anything, something that could let me get out of there and then I stopped. Sully. I spotted him sitting in a limo and everything else went from my mind. I ran for the car and practically threw myself on the bonnet. Sully jumped and then stared and then opened the window and stuck his head out.

"Freya?" he queried, he seemed surprised to see me.

I grabbed a breath and went for it.

"Driver left me…got no way out…I need you to give me a lift!"

I sounded deranged, I didn't care. He looked as if he was going to refuse me, clearly I was getting in the way of whatever he was doing, but I was desperate.

"Please, Sully!"

He swallowed.

"Get in," he replied and I threw myself round to the passenger door.

I felt relief the moment I was in that car, though I'm not sure why as even within the assumed safety of its structure I could now hear the gunfire increase. The guards had clearly found their target. Sully looked at me and then started talking, but I immediately knew he wasn't addressing me.

"All right boys, change of plan! Too many people trying to leave, the driveway's all jammed up."

I looked, he was right. When he had started talking I had wondered if I was the cause of the change, but I had soon realised I wasn't even registering in his calculation. He had paused, clearly waiting for a response from the boys and then continued.

"There's that fountain just outside the ballroom. I'll meet you there!"

He nodded to himself and then looked at me. I grabbed my seatbelt and secured it as he started the engine. I could see from his face that what he had planned was going to be a little crazy. I nodded to him, I'd done crazy before.

There was more shooting, it sounded closer. Sully floored the car forward, swinging it round the car park to get into the position he needed. I saw him pause, his finger moving instinctively to his ear as I guessed someone spoke. He responded.

"Hold on, kid... nearly there!" he said as he swerved to avoid a Ferrari. I knew he was talking to Nate.

He swung round another car and drove into the trees. Dodging shrubs and greenery, he swerved his way to where he planned to be.

"Almost there." he told them again.

He halted at the top of a incline and then looked at me. I nodded as he floored it. The car flew forward, bumping and jumping down the hill and then exploding through a hedge and into the gardens.

"Someone call for a limo?"

I smiled, Sully had always been cool with the lines. I could now see the two men in white shirts shooting at a lot of guards. The armed men were everywhere and the two were heavily outnumbered. They were running for the car now, Sully had flung open the back door from the inside. It was going to be close. Shots bounced off the car and whistled past them as they finally reached us and flung themselves in.

"Go! Go! Go!" yelled the second man as he slammed the door behind them.

"Hang on!" replied Sully as he floored it with gun fire pelting the car. Back up the way we had come, swerving to miss a tree, then a whole new route involving smashing through a wrought iron gate and back into the car park. Handbrake turn around the entrance pillar and pedal to the metal up the driveway to freedom.

As the shots receded into the distance I relaxed, I was safe, well safer. I was out of there, I may have failed to accomplish acquiring what I had come for, but at least I could return to my hotel and take a nice hot bath. Once I had had time to calm my nerves I could think about what to do. It was as I relaxed into that car seat however, that all such thoughts vanished from my mind as I felt something hard press into my back through the back of the seat. I heard the click of the hammer and it was then I knew the night was far from over.

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There we go, what do we think? Exciting? Interesting? Let me know what you think by clicking that review button.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Right, here is the next chapter. Thank you to Neon Jack for your review and I hope you enjoy this one. Now there is a little chunk of Uncharted dialogue in this chapter, but there was always going to be some. So read on and enjoy...

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 **Chapter 2**

"Who are you?" came a challenging voice and out of the corner of my eye I saw Sully move. Unbeknown to me Nate also moved.

"Sam, what are you doing?" he asked, glancing down at the drawn gun the man called Sam was pressing into the back of my seat.

"We're not alone," replied Sam.

"No," said Sully in as relaxed a manner as he could muster. "My friend here got caught without a ride and so I agreed to give her one."

He glanced at Sam in the mirror.

"It's not going to be a problem is it?" he added.

Sam did not remove the gun.

"Friend?" queried Nate, his tone suggestive. He leant forward in his seat to get a better look at me. "Wait a minute. Freya?"

"Nate," I replied, my voice sounding uneasy.

He smiled.

"Long time no see," he continued cheerfully.

"Mhmm," I said before clearing my throat rather loudly.

"Ah!" he responded before placing a hand on the barrel of Sam's gun. "It's alright, she's good."

Sam paused and looked at him.

"Come on," continued Nate. "Put it away."

Sam breathed out loudly, but he removed the weapon from my seat.

With the situation seemingly calmed, we all sort of relaxed. Yet as Sully drove further down and into the dark lamp lit streets, I got the feeling that Sam was far from comfortable with the situation.

Sully pulled up outside a small hotel and parked. We all got out and dusted ourselves off, stretching like we had driven for several hours rather then minutes.

"Right then," Sully started. "Shall we?"

He indicated for us to enter the hotel.

"Ok, I guess the reception can call me a taxi," I said, starting up the couple of steps.

"You're English?" said Sam, looking at me.

I paused.

"Yes," I answered unsure.

"Yep, she's a Brit," said Nate, clapping his brother on the back but he brushed him off. "Sam?"

"Have you got something against them?" asked Sully, now coming up the stairs to join me.

Sam looked at me, his eyes meeting mine, as if he was trying to read something he expected to see.

"How about we get in the door," continued Sully, deciding to rapidly change the subject. "Would rather not be standing out in the open like this."

"Yeah, come on," concurred Nate to which Sam just nodded and indicated with his head they should go in.

The lobby was fancy and welcoming, it appeared to be a decent hotel. I guess I had expected them to go for something a little cheaper. I headed towards the desk where a woman waited, but Sam strode in front of me. I stopped, not pleased by his rudeness, but he turned and nodded his head for me to go wait with Nate and Sully. My brow furrowed and he put on a slight smile.

"I'll get her to call you a cab," he said quietly.

"Oh," I said, a feeling swimming in the pit of my stomach. "There's no need to I can-"

"It's the least I can do," he interjected and then added. "Which hotel is it?"

I told him the name and went to wait with the others. He returned rather quickly with three sets of keys and indicated we should go upstairs. I opened my mouth to speak, but he told me that I could wait in Nate's room until it came and that the lady would ring up when it arrived. Nate gave Sam a look I think he thought I wouldn't see but I did. I was not so sure, but I seemed to be unable to do anything about it as I felt a bit frogmarched as we ascended the stairs. He opened the door to room four and in we went. It wasn't a bad room, rather big in fact, with one double bed and a balcony window. They gathered round the table that sat near the window. Sully then took his key and disappeared only to return with a bottle of Scottish whiskey and a glass. They were in the mood to celebrate and I soon saw why as Sam produced the stolen cross and laid it on the table.

"So it _was_ you guys," I said, looking at the stolen item.

"Yep," said Nate with a smile. "I wish I could have seen Rafe's face when he realised."

"Rafe?" I questioned.

"The man in the tux who was bidding against me," clarified Sully. "I know you know who I mean."

"Ah! Right," I replied nodding. "'Angry man'"

The three of them looked at me oddly.

"Never mind, yeah, his face was certainly one of fury," I continued. "Threw his paddle like a three year old and everything."

Nate and Sully laughed while Sam smiled a little. I glanced at the telephone.

"That taxi is taking a while," I commented.

"I'm sure it will be here soon," said Nate with a smile. "Wanting to be rid of us already?"

"No, it's not that at all," I said, shaking my head at him as he smirked. "I just-"

"Why don't you just take a seat," interrupted Sam, indicating to the bed. "Make yourself comfortable."

I looked at him and he sighed.

"I don't mean it like that," he added causing Nate to glance at him but Sam shook his head. "Come on. I'm bored of waiting."

"Would you like to do the honours?" asked Nate, handing him a hammer.

Sam nodded as Sully set out three glasses and poured them each a drink. He then turned to me and proffered the bottle, but I declined to which he shrugged and lit one of his cigars. They all took a seat then and Sam took a swig of his whiskey before he picked up the cross.

"Okay," he said, placing the cross on the edge of the table and raising the hammer before pausing. "I hope I don't go to hell for this."

Nate smirked giving Sully a look as Sam brought the hammer down upon the end of the cross and broke it open. He then looked into the broken end and the smile ran away from his face.

"Shit."

Nate's brow furrowed.

"What?!" he asked.

Sam looked at the other two.

"It's empty."

"What?" exclaimed Nate, staring at Sam in disbelief.

Sam then shook the cross upside down and along with splinters of broken wood a rolled up piece of parchment began to emerge. As it did Nate sighed.

"Ah, you're such an asshole."

Sam laughed as Sully added.

"He's your brother."

I had been watching and listening, but that one sentence caught me off guard. Brother? Wait a minute. Sam was Nate's brother? I didn't even know he had a brother. I mean, I couldn't say that I knew Nate as well as some, I had first met him through his wife Elena, but I couldn't remember her telling me he had a brother. Did she even know? I wasn't sure.

"All right, skull and crossbones. Very good sign."

Come to think of it, did Elena even know Nate was doing this, it didn't seem like something she'd approve of. I shook myself out of my thoughts. Now was not the time.

"That's Avery's insignia…" said Sam, his voice sounding impressed.

Wait what? _The_ Captain Avery? Sam unrolled the parchment.

"What is this?" he questioned out loud. "Ah…'Hodie mercum eris in Paradiso.'"

"Today you will join me in paradise," translated Nate instantly, Sam joining him on the words 'in paradise' before continuing.

"It's what Jesus said to Saint Dismas on the Cross, but…"

"Right," concurred Nate with a nod.

Sam peered at the parchment more.

"What about these numbers here?" he asked, turning the scroll more to Nate. "What do you make of this?"

"Some kind of code?" suggested Sullivan. "Or a phone number?"

Nate half laughed seemingly at the fact neither of the two got what they were.

"C'mon," he said, looking between the two. "They're dates…"

"Huh?" said Sam, looking closer at the numbers upon the scroll.

Nate turned it back towards Sam.

"Look," he said. "1659…"

"That's the year that Avery was born," replied Sam.

"1699."

"Lemme guess, the year he died?" said Sully with a smile.

"By most accounts, yeah, but…" answered Sam, moving the parchment back to Nate. "That means we have date of birth, date of death and 'Paradise'."

I could see the cogs of Nate's mind whirring as his brother spoke.

"Which means we're looking for…Avery's grave," Sam finished.

Like Bletchley Park's Bombe Nate's mind had reached an answer.

"At Saint Dismas' Cathedral…" he said, getting up from his chair.

"Huh," replied Sam, looking down again at the scroll.

"Wait a second," started Sully, watching as Nate retrieved something and came back to the table with a book. "Hasn't Rafe been scouring that site for ages already?"

Nate, having flicked through the book to the page he wanted, lay it flat on the table.

"Yeah, the Cathedral," replied Nate before pointing to the scroll. "See these symbols?"

"Yeah," nodded Sully.

"These are found on old Scottish gravestones," continued Nate excitedly. He looked to Sam. "Right?"

He nodded and I felt like I wished to get up and look too, but I stayed put.

"Now look at this," said Nate, removing a scrap of folded paper from the book and unfolding it before the other two. "The layout of this place is really unusual."

"Huh," responded Sam, looking at the paper and nodding.

"Here's the cathedral," explained Nate, pointing to it I assumed on the bit of paper before pointing to a different spot. "But the graveyard…is way over here."

Sam smiled and half laughed.

"Rafe's been focussing on the wrong area," he said, holding his hands out in front of him with his palms facing up.

"Exactly," Nate concured.

"Guys," continued Sam with a sparkle in his eye. "We're going to Scotland."

"All right, all right," said Sully, sensing the boys were getting ahead of themselves. "Wait…wait up. You do realise Rafe knows you're coming?"

I noticed Sam's eyes flick to me and then to Nate before returning to Sully.

"Yeah," said Nate, seeming undeterred. "We can deal with that when we get there."

Sam nodded in agreement.

"That psycho would like nothing better then for you to show up," continued Sully. "Plus he's got Nadine and her whole army to back him up!"

"Yeah, but he doesn't have this," argued Nate, pointing to the scroll that he held in his left hand. "The biggest pirate treasure of all time is within our grasp."

"I thought this was about saving Sam," said Sully, indicating to Sam with his cigar as he lent back in his chair.

I wondered what he meant by that.

"It is," Nate replied. "But come on, it's both right? We need the treasure so we can save Sam."

Now I was really confused, how would finding Avery's treasure save Sam? Was he in a huge amount of debt or something? I didn't know and I noticed Sam was giving me another odd look. Sully sighed.

"How is Elena cool with all this?" he said, now leaning forward and looking at Nate before realising the answer just by looking at his face. "Oh, Jesus, kid."

I knew it, I knew Elena had to not know about his brother and therefore this too. I did not approve.

"Look, it's just not that simple," responded Nate, making my brow furrow.

"Look," sighed Sully. "With all that you two have been through together-"

"She wouldn't understand this," interjected Nate, rolling up the scroll.

"You are not giving her enough credit," reprimanded Sully.

Nate sighed.

"I can't take that chance," he replied.

Sully sighed and lent back in his chair. Sam now chose to speak up.

"Nathan, he's right," he started, resting both elbows on the table and interlocking his fingers together in front of himself. "Things have changed. Rafe's involved now. And…"

Nathan pulled out his mobile.

"I can-" continued Sam, seeming a little unsure, though I wasn't sure if I was reading him right. "I can take this on my own. Really."

"Great," said Nate and I could tell he was going to ignore them. "Well, thank you for your input. Both of you."

He then rose from his chair having found the contact he wanted in his phone.

"Excuse me."

With that he made to leave the room, heading for the balcony.

"Hey," he said as he opened the door. "Hey, it's me, yeah."

He paused for the person's reply.

"No, the reception's lousy," Nate continued before shutting the door for privacy's sake. Sam poured himself another drink, as Sully took a puff of his cigar, before offering it to Sully who declined so Sam placed the bottle back down. "Yeah…"

The atmosphere in the room now changed as we could no longer hear Nate and I really wished the phone would ring just so I could leave.

"Something on your mind, dear?" asked Sam with a sigh to Sully who had lent back again in his chair.

Sully paused for a second as he thought how to phrase what he was going to say.

"Look, I um," he started as Sam took a swig of his drink. "I realise it couldn't have been easy…all those years away. And I'm sorry for what happened to you."

"Hmph," Sam grumbled as he finished his glass and placed it upon the table.

"But it's not his fault," continued Sully, indicating to Nate with his cigar.

I wondered what Sully meant. He looked up at Sully.

"I never said that it was," he replied, Sully now lent forward.

"It took a long time for him to get out of this game," Sully now explained.

"You see a gun to his head?" said Sam a little coldly. "He chose this. Okay. He's meant for this life."

"You really believe that?" asked Sully, holding Sam's gaze.

Sam shook his head in a way that meant he couldn't believe Sully was asking him that.

"Why are you here, Victor?"

Sully sighed.

"Because somebody's gotta keep an eye out for him," he replied.

The two men just stared at each other in silence before Nate finally came back in.

"No, I'll just see you in a few more weeks?" he said to the person on the phone as he entered. Sam looked down at the table while Sully took several puffs of his cigar. "Yeah. I will. Okay. I love you too."

As Nate sat down the two turned their attention back to him. He looked between the two.

"Just told her that the job is gonna take a little longer than expected," he said simply. He'd obviously been talking to Elena. "Which is the truth. All right?"

I sensed Sully was uncomfortable with it though.

"So come on, what do you say?" continued Nate, leaning forward in his seat and glancing at Sam before looking directly at Sully. "Sam could still use our help."

Sully looked at Sam before sitting forward again.

"Well… " he started, grabbing the whiskey and pouring himself another. "I do hear that the weather is particularly fine in Scotland this time of year."

Sam nodded slightly at him, I guessed in gratitude, as it was Sully's way of saying yes with a joke of a sort, because from personal experience I knew it was far from fine there right now. Snow and ice and gales, not exactly wonderful, unless you were indoors and didn't have to go anywhere, meaning you could watch it out your window while a warm fire crackled in the grate. They all drank to the venture and I sat there feeling like a lemon.

"Right," I said, getting up from the bed. "This has been lovely, but I'm going to go. I'll get a taxi myself and leave you lot to your evening."

They all turned to me as if they had only just remembered I was there. Sam shrugged.

"I'm sure that cab will be here any minute," he commented, reaching for the bottle again.

I looked at him, trying to read him and my expression hardened.

"You never called one did you?" I said, trying to keep calm.

Nate glanced at Sam.

"Sam?"

"No," said Sam, sipping his drink and watching me over the rim of his glass.

The other two looked at him now and he placed his glass down.

"I figured if Rafe's already got one woman working for him," he said, looking between the two before looking again at me. "Why shouldn't he have two?"

"Are you serious?" said Sully, now rising from his chair. "There's no way she is working for him."

"Yeah Sam," concurred Nate. "She's not like that."

"How well do you actually know her?" he asked, turning his gaze to Nate. "Honestly?"

"Well enough to know she wouldn't work for, or with him," said Nate, holding his brother's gaze. He sighed and glanced at me. "Look, I-"

"Why were you at the auction?" interjected Sam, now standing up.

"I was looking to purchase a specific lot," I said, not sure I was liking where this was going.

"This perchance?" he said, picking the cross off the table and proffering it in my direction.

"No, something else entirely," I said, holding his gaze. "Which I failed to acquire due to someone or some ones stealing a lot and abruptly bringing an end to the auction!"

Sam smirked a little and moved towards me as Sully and Nate rose from their seats.

"What?" he said coldly.

"A dinosaur if you must know!" I said, snapping a little.

Sam stopped and stared, one of his eyebrows raised, before he laughed. The laugh didn't feel all that genuine.

"Nice try," he said, glaring at me.

"Actually-" started Sully, but he was cut off by Sam.

"If you think I would believe that they would be auctioning off a dinosaur at such an event-"

"Actually you'd be surprised at how many dinosaurs can be found on the black market," I interjected sharply. "And at the prices they go for. Hundreds of thousands of pounds, even millions occasionally."

Sam's expression was dark and I felt myself back up a little.

"Look, Sam, she's not with Rafe," tried Nate again, now putting himself between Sam and me. "Trust me."

"Even if that were true we still can't let her just go," said Sam, backing off a little.

Nate looked at him as I saw Sully realise what Sam meant.

"Because she heard all that we have been discussing?" he said, taking another puff of his cigar.

"Precisely," said Sam as Nate sighed. "She therefore has to come with us."

"Come with you?" I said, staring round the three. "To Scotland? Oh no, no, I don't want to go, not with you lot."

That made Sam look at me hard.

"Why, because Rafe will blow your cover?" he scowled and Nate shoved him.

"Because I know Nate," I retorted. "Trouble and danger seek him out. No offence, Nathan," he shrugged and smiled, "but I have no wish to come back in a coffin."

Sam's expression softened a little, but only a little. The three of them said nothing.

"I just want to go back to my hotel," I finished.

I thought I might have succeeded, that they were going to let me walk down to the lobby and leave.

"How do we know you won't go off and ring Rafe," said Sam. "Tell him we're coming?"

Nope, I hoped too soon.

"We already know he knows we're coming," said Sully, giving Sam a look.

"Ah, but," replied Sam. "He doesn't know about the graveyard."

Nate could see his brother was not going to let up whatever they said.

"Sam."

Sam looked at his brother, then Nate lent in and spoke quietly to him. I could not hear what they said. Sully took Nate's glass and poured some whiskey in it before handing it to me. I accepted this time and he then poured himself one. We then sat together on the bed and waited.

"Okay?" said Nate, finally loud enough for us all to hear.

Sam nodded.

"Freya?"

I looked at Nate.

"Can I have your phone please?" he continued, I gave him a look.

He made a pleading face at me, his eyes giving a quick indication to his brother behind him that meant he needed at least one person to cooperate easily.

"Fine," I said, getting up, opening my bag and handing him my phone.

He smiled at me before handing it to Sam.

"Happy?" he said, giving his older brother a look. Sam half shrugged and Nate turned back to me. "Right, you're coming with us, but you can go back to your own hotel tonight. You'll get your phone back tomorrow, that way Sam can be sure you won't ring Rafe."

I paused and glanced at the hotel room phone, my expression suggesting that surely if I wanted to I could use the hotel phone, but Nate quickly caught my eye and shook his head. I sighed and nodded.

"Good," he said, seemingly relieved. "Now we'll ring you a cab and we can all go get some sleep."

"You sure she'll be there in the morning?" said Sam, casually making us once again turn to him. I could see Nate looked at if a headache was coming on. "Well, how much does she value her phone?"

Nate looked at his brother and opened his mouth to speak, but I spoke before he could.

"You want something of value for collateral, huh?"

Sam nodded.

"How about your divers watch?" suggested Sully, indicating to it with his cigar. "I'm sure it's worth a lot to you."

I looked down at the watch and with another sigh made to start removing it.

"No," said Sam, making me look up at him. "I think that is a much better choice."

He pointed towards my chest and my confusion grew for a moment and then I knew what he was asking for. As I had bent my head to undo the watch, my necklace had swung free and had caught Sam's eye.

"No, not that," I said, my fingers moving immediately to take hold of it. "Anything but that."

"Sam, the watch is fine," said Nate, seeing the distress on my face.

"No, I think not," replied Sam, a funny look in his eyes. "No necklace, no go."

Sully looked to Nate, but Sam didn't want to listen.

I felt tears threaten to fall but I had no choice, we were at a stalemate. I felt like stamping my foot, but instead I gripped the bed knob at the end of the bed to control my emotions, before my fingers moved to the clasp to undo the gold scarab from around my neck.

"Freya," said Nate, indicating I didn't have to do it but I shook my head.

Sam held out his hand and I let the necklace drop into his palm. I then looked him hard in the eye.

"You lose it, or any harm befalls it and nothing, no army, no living thing that exists on this earth will be able to protect you from me! You got it?"

He nodded.

"I'll keep it safe," he said and for that moment alone I felt he sincerely meant his words.

Nate looked between us and nodded.

"Right, I'll get you that cab," he said before disappearing from the room.

By the time the taxi arrived everything was sorted and I was grateful to get in it and be heading for my hotel. Sully and Nate had seen me off before heading back upstairs. Unbeknown to me, Sully gave Nate a look as they ascended the stairs and Nate sighed and nodded. The two went back into Nate's room where Sam had been watching from the balcony but now came back in.

"You shouldn't have done that, Sam," said Sully, giving him a look.

"What?" said Sam with a sigh.

"Made her give you that necklace," continued Sully.

"This?" he said, holding it up. "Sure it's gold, but it's not worth a huge amount."

"No, but it has a great deal of sentimental value," replied Sully.

Sam looked at him.

"It was her mother's," said Nate, stepping forward to look at the necklace. "All she has left of her. I've never seen her without it."

"That's because she never takes it off," added Sully. "Ever!"

Nate looked at Sully and then back at the necklace. Sam's face had lost all expression. He glanced down at the little gold scarab in his hand and maybe just maybe felt a tinge of regret.

* * *

Ok so there we go. What do we think? The adventure will properly get going in the next chapter. If you feel like telling me what you thought then please click the review button...pretty please *Puppy dog eyes*.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to Neon Jack and whitephoenix18 for your reviews, they make me inexplicably happy! To Neon Jack, try not to dislike Sam too much and I hope you enjoy this chapter. To whitephoenix18, I shall be interested to see what you think of where I take it and good luck with your own fanfic, I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Now we're off to Scotland and once more there is some Uncharted dialogue in there. I hope you all enjoy this chapter so read on, dear readers, read on...

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

I was beyond relief to get back to my hotel and up into my own room. My luggage sat in the corner. My normal clothes still lay strewn over the bed where I had left them, along with the empty cardboard cover that had contained my new pair of specially bought tights. I removed my shoes first, the only reason I didn't kick them off was because they were too tight to do so. Next the tights and finally the dress. Then I sat down on the floor, using my bed as a back rest, in only my underwear and went through the events of the evening in my mind. It didn't seem to take me long to get back to that smiling, smug face of Sam Drake. I sighed and pushed myself up. I needed a bath and I was sick of wearing a bra so I flung it off and headed for the bathroom.

They arrived while I was having breakfast the next morning. I was sat in the dining room picking at my continental breakfast, having not slept well in the night, when I happened to look up and see Nate in the lobby chatting to one of the porters. The man directed Nate towards the dining room and as he turned he spotted me and waved. I nodded and taking a last swig of my coffee I got up and made my way towards him. He apologised for interrupting my breakfast but I waved him off and we went upstairs to my room to get my bags, which were pretty much packed and waiting. He offered to carry them but I shook my head and took them myself. Yet halfway down he did tap me on one shoulder, causing me to turn, and he swiped the main bag in my left hand into his own with a grin. I sighed, but could not help flash him a small smile. We paused in the lobby while I paid and then we were off.

The boot of the car they were using was already open and awaiting my bags as we left the hotel. Once they were safely loaded, Nate opened the front passenger seat, which Sully had vacated to allow me to sit there on the account of my motion sickness, before he jumped into the driver's seat. As Nate started the car up, something touched me lightly on the shoulder and I turned to find my necklace being dangled in my direction.

"Safe and sound," said Sam, dropping it into my hand.

I immediately put it back on, feeling a sense of relief to feel it there once more. He then handed me my phone, though a little more reluctantly, as we got underway.

"So how are we getting to Scotland then?" I asked curiously. "Plus you do know you guys need visas and the like to even get into Britain."

"Well," started Nate slowly.

"That's only if you go through official entrances," said Sully from behind me.

"Hey, I don't do illegal you know," I said, looking around the three.

"Well as you'll be staying on the plane, you technically won't have to do illegal," said Sam, leaning back in his seat having lent forward to give me back my possessions.

"The plane has to land you know," I said, rolling my eyes, not that those in the back could see. "On land, hence, illegal."

"Not all planes," said Sully causing me to swing round in my seat.

"Oh no, please no," I said, looking at Sully who just winked at me.

Out of the corner of my eye Sam looked like he was enjoying my displeasure a little too much.

"It'll be fine. Don't worry about it," said Nate cheerfully.

Sure I thought, turning back around in my seat, but you might be eating your words when I'm throwing up everywhere.

As we reached the docks, that could be seen from the Rossi Estate, my fears were answered as I spotted Sully's sea plane. Planes I can cope with, but boats, planes on water, anything on water without a sickness tablet, which only lasts so many hours, and nope, nope, nope. I've had motion sickness since I was a child and it only got worse the older I got, can't even go on swings anymore. The mere idea of getting on that plane and waiting for takeoff made my stomach churn and I wasn't even on it yet.

"You'll be fine," said Nate, clapping me on the shoulder as he passed me stood on the dock staring at the plane in horror. "Just imagine it's stable."

"That won't make a figure of difference," I said, shaking my head.

"Afraid of flying?" queried Sam, coming past me carrying a couple of bags.

"Nope, the flying part's fine," I replied, hugging my arms to myself.

"It's the water she's not as keen on," said Nate as he stuck his head out the door and took the bags from Sam.

"More the rocking motion actually," I said, feeling a shiver run through me at the thought. The two smiled to each other and I wanted to punch them there and then. "Where's Sully?"

I wanted to change the subject and as my friend was nowhere in sight I figured it could not hurt to ask.

"Said he had to get something," said Nate, coming onto the dock again. "Required getting hold one of his old contacts. He said he wouldn't be long, but to get the plane loaded."

"Right," I said, moving to sit down on some crates at the edge of the dock.

Nate continued loading while Sam gave me a glance.

"What?" I asked, staring back at him.

"You could give us a hand you know," he said casually as he grabbed something else.

"I could indeed," I replied, glancing down at my watch before looking back up at him. "But I thought you might not trust me to do so, besides you two strong men seem to be doing fine on your own."

I gave him a grin and I could see Nate smirk a little. They continued loading for several more minutes before I hopped off the crates and grabbed up some of the remaining gear off the dock. Sam looked at me as I walked past him onto the plane and I shrugged and continued.

"You sure I can't carry that for you?" he called after me.

I placed the stuff down in the plane and stuck my left arm back out the door giving him the finger.

"Nice," said a voice I recognised to be Sully.

I quickly stuck my hands by my sides. He gave me a smile and a wink as he entered carrying a large black plastic case.

"I'm sure he deserved it, lass," he added quietly.

With the last of the stuff loaded and our pilot having arrived, we shut the door and Sully started up the engine. With a splutter and a sniff she was going and he slowly cruised her out away from the dock. He then glanced back to check Sam and I were ready, as Nate was in the co-pilot's seat, and with our nods he pushed up the throttle and finally pulled back on the control yoke. Up the plane went, climbing up and up until Sully turned her and levelled her out. We were on our way to Scotland.

The flight could have definitely been worse, but I survived for my part. We were all pretty quiet for most of it, Nate occasionally saying something or telling a short story with Sully chipping in, but otherwise we just enjoyed each others company in silence. Sam seemed to doze in his seat though I got the feeling he was never actually asleep, but somehow watching me like he thought I might try to murder them all. It was when we came into land though that my anxiety over the whole water thing returned with a vengeance.

The landing was slightly bumpy, but Sully was a reasonably experienced pilot so it was a good landing as they go. However along with the jolly Scottish weather of snow and freezing winds with some sunshine I'll admit, not that made it any warmer, the north sea was being far from obliging. The waves were not big, but the fact the plane rocked back and forth meant I could feel my stomach beginning to turn. Nope, there was no way I was staying on this plane.

"What do you mean I've got to stay on this plane?" I demanded as Sam and Nate were preparing to make for the shoreline. Sully was carefully manoeuvring the plane as close as he dared so the two could avoid getting wet. "I want to get off."

"No," said Sam simply.

The more cheeky demeanour of the Sam that had been at the docks had been buried and replaced, once again, by the suspicious one.

"I will throw up, I can feel it," I said, refusing to take his no as an answer.

"Do so out the door," he replied.

"I will not," I responded sharply. "I'm more likely to fall out doing so in this weather!"

Possibly a slight over exaggeration, not that I cared.

"It's hardly rocking at all," said Sam with a shake of his head. "Stop making a drama out of it!"

"It's likely going to be dangerous," said Nate now he had finished kitting himself out. "I can't risk you getting hurt."

"I don't want to come with you," I said, looking at him with a pleading expression. "I just want to sit on the shoreline, like over there on those rocks, grass and heather."

I pointed to a spot at the base of the sea cliffs.

"Where Victor can't see you so you can ring Rafe, huh?" said Sam accusingly. "Give him a heads up we're coming, huh?"

I clenched my hands into fists in frustration. Then I grabbed my phone and placed it on top of the plane's instrument panel.

"There, no way of contacting anyone," I snapped. "Happy?"

Sam looked as if he was trying to think of something else.

"Great," said Nate, trying to defuse the situation. "Now put on something warm, it's kinda cold out there."

Having been given shortwave radios we quickly and carefully jumped from the plane onto the rocks. I felt my boot slide a little, my balance almost going, but I caught myself only to find Sam's quick retreating hand as if he'd tried to catch me. I looked at him, but he had already looked away and now strode on ahead, but not before almost slipping and falling himself. I forced myself not to laugh and continued gingerly across the seaweed and rocks to the more firmer ground. From there I found a little sheltered area, out of the wind, at the base of the cliffs. Nate gave me a smile and I wished them luck before they began their perilous climb up. I was glad I didn't have to do it, but I was even more glad to be off the rocking plane. They reached the top safely to my relief and Sully's and began scouting where they were headed. Finally Nate's voice came over the radio.

"Sully," he said, I could see Sully now lent out of the plane door.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, listen, we're good to go here," continued Nate.

"Okay kid," said Sully, giving me a smile to which I nodded. "Happy hunting."

"Last chance to come with," said Nate, though I was pretty sure Sully had no wish to climb the cliffs.

"Yeah, well," he replied. "Unless you can find me an escalator, I think I'll pass."

I smirked and wrapped my jacket tighter around myself. Nate laughed.

"All right. We'll see you in a few."

Nate waved and then I saw Sully pause before pressing the talk button again.

"Hey Nate…"

"Yeah?"

"Just-" he started but paused.

I saw Sully struggle, as if he wished to say something but couldn't.

"Ah, just bring me back something shiny, will ya?" he said finally, but I knew from his expression what he had wanted to say.

"That's the plan," replied Nate before clicking off.

The two then headed off leaving us to our own devices, which would have been fine if it had not been for the sudden loud, ground shaking boom that caused me to have to move rapidly as little bits of cliff broke loose and fell. It was followed not long after by another and then another still. Clearly this Rafe was getting overly desperate to find something, though with all that explosive material I would be surprised he was not actually doing seismic tests rather then an excavation. I doubted, if he did find something, whether there would actually be anything left of it at all.

"You okay over there?" came Sully's rather concerned voice over the radio after the second explosion.

"Yep, just had to move," I replied, giving him a wave which he returned. "I'll be surprised if he doesn't cause a landslide or some major subsidence at the rate he's going."

"He's clearly desperate," said Sully, glancing up the cliff, slight worry on his features.

"Clearly," I concurred before adding. "Nate will be fine."

"I hope so," he replied quietly.

Sully was a decent way out away from cliffs but he kept in touch with me over the radio, though we were on a different channel from the boys. Mostly because we didn't want to blow their cover with our own conversation if they happened upon some trouble. We kept our conversation to a minimum though as the boys had priority.

Somehow the waiting felt worse then the idea of sneaking around the Scottish countryside, trying to avoid armed men with dynamite or C-4 or whatever they were using. Every explosion, every occasional burst of gun fire that the constantly present bitter wind brought to us made our concern over the brother's safety rise. Then it all went quiet except for the occasional explosion. I sat down again and picked a couple of strands of frozen grass, casually stripping it into pieces. Oh how I hated waiting.

It had probably been about half an hour, maybe forty or forty-five minutes even, when the silence between booms was interrupted. I had been building a miniature snowman inbetween the flurries of snow fall and had been just attempting to give him little pebble eyes when a bust of heavy gun fire started up, making me jump. I paused listening and was unsure whether to feel relieved or not when it stopped. I waited to see if anymore would occur, but the silence continued. I picked up the pebble I had dropped only to drop it again as Sully's voice now came over the radio.

"Kid? What's your status?" he asked, clearly he had been concerned too.

"Hey, Sully," came Nate's voice and it warmed my steadily cooling heart to hear it. "We're on the trail, but the treasure's closer to the cathedral than we originally thought."

"Oh boy," replied Sully and I knew from his tone that we were all thinking the same with that new info. "So what do you need me to do?"

"Well, just keep those engines warm," said Nate's voice. "We'll be back before too long."

"You got it," replied Sully, waving at me now to ensure I was following and I nodded in reply. "Keep me posted."

"Will do," came Nate's reply before radio silence resumed.

I wished them luck but I also wished that Nate's 'before too long' would be sooner rather then later. It didn't help that the weather appeared to be deteriorating the longer we waited. Having long since given up on the snowman I now paced back and forth to keep warm, wrapping the jacket I wore tighter round myself and wishing I was wearing thermals and walking trousers instead of a useless pair of jeans. The snow had begun to fall properly, constant large flakes instead of the occasional flurries that had come before, and it was making my jeans damp. Never go hiking in Scotland in jeans, they take forever to dry, I thought, but then I reminded myself originally I hadn't been planning to end up in Scotland. I glanced at the sea plane sat rocking out on the steadily increasing waves and even though I was feeling the cold, I was still immensely glad I was not on it. Yet I felt my frustration rise and looked up at the cliff. What was taking them so long! Clearly Sully wondered too because his voice came back on to the radio.

"Kid, storm's picking up. How's it looking?"

"We're about to head into the cave," came Nate's reply.

"The cave?" said Sully, his voice sounding like it had a 'are you serious' tone to it.

"Yeah…" continued Nate. "Might lose contact for a bit. Don't get too worried."

"All right, I'll keep the porch light on for you," said Sully, his words reminding me of a moment from a children's book of my youth where a whole town lit candles in their windows to guide a boat home.

It was completely random, but with the stormy weather it made me feel a little warmer inside.

"All right," said Nate with a slight laugh. "Call you soon."

Time passed slowly, I had forgotten to look at my watch when we started so I had no idea how long they had been out there when a definite change occurred. There was an explosion and then a few minutes later I felt a massive rumbling beneath my feet. Sully stuck his head out the plane and looked at me, I shrugged in response and then we both heard the increase in gun fire. Heavy and sustained. A fire fight had clearly broken out and we both were in no doubt that the boys were on one side of it. I felt my worry rise. Sully grabbed the radio.

"God damn it, Nate," he said into the radio. "I can hear the fireworks from here. What the hell is going on?"

I began to make my way towards the slippery rocks that we had originally landed on as Sully now beckoned me. It seemed it was time to get back on the dreaded rocking plane and the sea was quite rough.

"Long story; short version is get us the hell out of here!" came Nate's under duress sounding reply.

"Yeah, I figured," Sully replied as he shut the door, disappearing into the plane to move it closer to me. "Hold tight, I'll be there as soon as I can!"

He moved it as close as he dared before reopening the door and rushing back to the controls. I braced myself before I leapt forward and flung myself, ungracefully, at the open doorway. I made it somehow, I was pretty sure I gained several bruises but at least I had not slipped and fallen in the sea. I shut the door as Sully started her up and went to join him in the cockpit, pocketing my phone off the instrument panel as I did.

"Hold on tight," he said as I strapped myself in. "I feel it's going to get a little hairy!"

Then he pushed up the throttle, pulled back the yoke and up we went.

We flew up along the coast towards the cathedral, the tension rising as we did. On our first pass we were too high to be spotted, but now Sully brought her down lower with the aim of locating the brothers. I peered out the window trying to spot any sign of the two jackets I knew they had been wearing.

"Do you see them?" asked Sully as we flew over the building.

"No," I replied. "At least nothing I would recognise as being them."

I looked again and that's when several muzzle flashes caught my eye.

"Wait!" I said, craning my neck to see. "There's gun fire over near that crane. It has to be them."

"I see it," agreed Sully as he turned the plane. "What I don't see, however, is anywhere to land around there."

I looked too, but the heather on the hillside was deep looking and you could see the occasional large rock sticking out of it. Unless we landed literally on the crumbling ruins of the cathedral itself then there was no way we could land, at least not on the land. I sighed and Sully gave me a sympathetic smile.

Having spotted the gunfire had now ceased Sully grabbed the radio.

"Hey kid," said Sully and for a moment I thought I spotted two figures I recognised near the crane. "There's no place to land up here. Can you make it down to the water?"

"Yeah set her down," replied Nate, sounding out of breath. "One way or another we'll get to you."

Sully set the radio down again and his face took on a serious expression as he concentrated on getting the plane down onto the water as safely and as close to the cliffs as he dared. He swept the plane down past the bit of the cathedral with the crane, which I personally have no idea how they got it there, and round to land on the now choppy waters of the north sea again. The landing was bumpy to say the least and almost immediately I felt ill, but now was not the time to be selfish. I leapt out my seat and ran for the door, opening it in readiness for the brothers to just clamber in. I could see them now, sliding down piles of scree and fending off multiple enemies with a variety of weapons and I felt useless. There was nothing I could do.

"You see them?" called Sully from the cockpit.

"Yeah, I do now," I replied. "They're under a lot of fire power and there's nothing I can do."

"You sure about that?" he said, there was a certain tone in his voice.

"Uh, yeah," I said, rolling my eyes to myself. "Unless you think I can magically kill those Shoreline folk with my mind alone."

Sully chuckled.

"You remember how I was late to the plane this morning?" he said, leaning round in his seat to look at me. I nodded. "Why don't you check out that black case behind you that I brought."

I swung round and made a move to the case in question that was strapped in along with the rest of the gear. I pulled it out and popped it open to find I admired what it contained.

"Figured you deserved a present, so I got you a little friend," said Sully with a grin. "I'm sure you know how to use it."

I nodded and he turned back around as I assembled it, before moving back towards the door. The brothers were still legging it, ducking behind cover when they could.

"Well she's not like my girl at home but let's see if we understand one another," I said, aiming the sniper rifle out the door. I scoped out a target, accounted for the wind and lined up the shot. "Here goes nothing."

I fired at my target and the rifle kicked more then I was expecting. The shot wasn't perfect and instead of hitting the head or the body, it slammed into the gun he was holding and gave him such a shock he slipped and fell off the cliff. I shrugged, it had the same desired effect. I aimed again and this time I hit the target more or less where I wanted. Now we were talking.

I hit another and another and then Sully called to me.

"How are they doing?"

I looked for the boys again, locating them quickly. Nate had just been grabbed from behind and was struggling to break the man's hold. Sam's gun was up and prepared to shoot said man when Nate indicated something behind Sam. I swept the rifle back towards where Nate was indicating as Sam turned too slowly to line up a shot. The man who had got Sam dead to rights moved to pull the trigger, but he never succeeded in completing the action. To Sam's surprise his would be killer's head instead partly exploded as my bullet penetrated his skull, but Sam had no time to think on it as, like me, he could see more Shoreliners were coming. He turned to find Nate had finally broken the man's hold and punched him off the cliff. They could get moving again.

"Good," I replied.

Everything was working well except that the Shoreline folk had not only finally worked out the brothers were headed for the plane, but that there was also a sniper in said plane. They now turned their guns on the plane and I had to take cover as bullets thudded into the fuselage.

"Boys, they're shooting at my plane," called Sully over the radio as I tried to return fire. "Hurry the hell up, or your ride's gonna sink!"

He then turned in his seat again.

"You ok back there?"

"Yep, fine," I replied, finally hitting one of the men with an automatic machine gun. "Will be happier when we get out of here though!"

"You and me both," he replied.

Finally the brothers leapt off the scree covered cliff, swinging from their grapples into the sea as bullets rained after them.

"Aahh!" yelled Nate as the temperature of the water hit him.

He swam for the plane as I got another shot off at a Shoreliner. Whether it hit, I wasn't sure and I didn't have time to find out.

"Sully!" Nate called. "Get her going!"

Sully turned the ignition and she started up.

"Quick!" added Nate.

He reached the plane and I hauled him in. Nate then turned to help Sam as more of Nadine's men showed up.

"C'mon! C'mon!" said Nate, pulling his brother in. "Go, go!"

Nate slammed the doors shut as Sully floored it and rapidly took off in such a way I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. I didn't care, we were out of there.

* * *

Ok, so there we go. What do we think? As ever I'm always interested to know so would you kindly press the review button, please? :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, its nice to know you're enjoying this story. To whitephoenix18, your waiting is over and I hope you enjoy this one. To Neon Jack, I hope you enjoy this chapter too. Next week you will be getting the chapter early as I'll be updating this story on Friday because I'm away for the weekend. So yay!

Right so on with the story...as ever there is some UC4 dialogue, but there always is. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter and it's always nice to hear what you think...now read on and enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

As the plane levelled out I got to my feet and carefully began to disassemble and pack away the rifle. The brothers were soaked and shivering, but I was glad I did not have to tell them to get out of their wet clothes. Nate and Sam stripped their wet jackets and Sam removed the black shirt he had been wearing underneath while Nate took off his black and grey jumper. Nate then began peeling off the wet t-shirt he'd had on underneath and Sam made to do the same but stopped and instead looked at me.

"What?" I said, staring right back and causing Nate to look at me too. "Are you embarrassed or something, do you want me not to look?"

Neither of them seemed to continue and I saw Nate look at his brother and then at me.

"You want me to go in the cockpit?" I queried.

"No, you don't have to-" started Nate, but I shook my head and shoving what was left of the gun into the box and securing it as best as I could, due to the fact it would not close, I stormed off into the cockpit.

Sully glanced at me and decided it was best not to say anything right at that point.

The boys got changed quickly and as I turned to see if they were done, I spotted Sam pull down a fresh blue-grey jumper over what looked like three gunshot scars. So had he been shot, I wondered. I looked quickly away, trying to piece together the little bits I knew. Sully's voice stirred me from my thoughts.

"You boys done in there?" he asked, giving me a wink to which I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah," said Nate. "We're all good."

"Great," I said, hopping out the seat and heading for the back of the plane.

Sam was sat in his seat staring at the floor, seemingly lost in thought, while Nate was straitening the fresh white t-shirt he had on along with another pair of jeans. He gave me a smile, though I spotted he was still shivering a little. I passed him and I grabbed a towel from one of the bags.

"Nate," I said and he turned to me.

I wrapped it round his shoulders and his smile broadened.

"Thanks," he said quietly and then I indicated towards Sam and Nate gave my shoulder a squeeze, before grabbing another towel and approaching his brother with it.

"Here," he said, pushing it under Sam's nose.

Sam stirred and looking up a little, he took the proffered towel and began drying his face and hair with it, while Nate headed into the cockpit. I then pulled the gun case back out and began packing it away more efficiently.

"That was a close one, huh?" said Nate to Sully and I glanced up from what I was doing to see the older man shake his head at Nate at how he was making light of the situation.

"They shot up my goddamned plane, Nate!" replied Sully, the slightest hint of anger in his voice.

Sam stopped what he was doing and turned towards the cockpit.

"We're fine, thanks," he said, his tone suggesting Sully should careless about the plane and more about them, but I knew that was far from true.

"How soon can you get us to Madagascar?" said Nate, changing the subject.

"No treasure, then," said Sully.

"Not yet," he replied.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" said Sam, now reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. "Look-"

He handed whatever it was to Sully.

"We're rich!" Sam finished with a snort of disgust.

He then turned back and glanced a me with a funny look.

"Jesus…" said Sully, looking at the item. "Suppose it's a start. And you think the rest is in Madagascar?"

He handed the thing to Nate.

"Well there was a chamber back there with a giant map of Madagascar on the floor, so…" explained Nate slowly. "Yeah it's probably there."

"This is beginning to smell a whole lot like wild goose, kid," said Sully as Sam sighed, got to his feet and walked towards me, vaguely looking at what I was doing.

"Look, the treasure was never in Scotland, okay?" said Nate seriously as Sam turned and taking hold of part of the interior ribs of the plane, lent against the side of the plane.

"Then what was all the point of that, huh?" he asked Nate. "Of the Saint Dismas cross?"

Nate sighed.

"Look," said Nate, I could hear frustration in his voice. "It's like I said, I think Avery was recruiting people. The cross was an invitation. The caves were just some sort of…initiation."

Sam now walked back towards the cockpit.

"Oh, so we all passed, huh?" he said, sarcasm lacing his words. "Congrats, Victor. We get eye patches and parrots now."

Nate shook his head as Sam came back towards me and continued leaning against the plane.

"I don't get it," said Sully. "Why the hell would they go to all that bother just to weed people out?"

"To protect himself," replied Nate simply. "Look, Avery was the most wanted man in the world at that time. He had to enlist people that he could trust in order to keep their treasure secret."

"Whaddya mean, 'their' treasure?" queried Sam, walking back towards the cockpit again, before sitting down in his seat sideways so he could look at his brother.

"Just…think about this," said Nate, glancing back at him. "Thomas Tew was a successful pirate in his own right. What would he possibly stand to gain from joining Avery?"

I could see Sam was pondering it over.

"I think Avery sent out crosses only to the other wealthy pirates like himself," continued Nate, looking between Sam and Sully. "What if they pooled and hid all their treasure together?"

"That would make the Gunsway haul look like chump change," said Sam slowly.

"Exactly," concurred Nate.

"Ho, ho, holy shit," said Sully with a shake of his head. Sam looked as if he was struggling to take it all in. "Okay, so where exactly in Madagascar are we going?"

"King's Bay," said Sam, stirring from his thoughts. "It was an old pirate haven back in Avery's time."

"I know it well…" replied Sully. "It's a big place. Anything more specific?"

"Well," continued Sam, glancing at me again. "That map chamber completely caved in, so you know…"

He sounded defeated, but my ears now picked up Nate's chuckle. We all turned to look in Nate's direction.

"What are you laughing about?" queried Sam.

Nate turned in his seat, a grin on his face.

"The people who survived the caves…" he began. "The recruits. What's the one thing they would have left with?"

He held up the item they had been talking about earlier and chucked it in Sam's direction. Sam caught it and turned it over in his hand.

"There's a volcano on this," he commented, attracting the geologist in me's attention.

It looked like a coin from what I could now see of it.

"Huh…" murmured Sullivan before continuing. "And there's a volcano near King's Bay."

They all nodded. I was unsure which of the five volcano's in Madagascar they were talking about, but I didn't think it mattered right then.

"Which means we need to get a move on," said Sully as he pushed on the throttle and the plane flew on.

"Right," I said, now they seemed to have finished talking. "So I guess this means you're not just going to let me off then?"

Both brothers now turned their attention to me.

"We need to get to Madagascar before Rafe and the others," explained Nate. "So we don't have time to stop and let you off."

"Fine, how about when we get to Madagascar?" I asked, now noticing Sam look at his brother. "Can I go my own way from there?"

"Why so hasty to leave?" asked Sam before Nate could reply.

"I just want off this ride," I replied, meeting his eyes. "I didn't want to come in the first place."

"I don't see why we can't go our separate ways once we reach Madagascar," said Nate, watching for Sam's reaction.

"Because she knows too much already," replied Sam.

"Sam, we've talked about this-" tried Nate.

"You said it yourself," said Sam with a shake of his head. "It seemed like the Shoreline guys were expecting us. Are you going to deny saying that?"

I looked at Nate as he glanced at me and then his brother. Sam then indicated at me.

"Who else could it have been?"

"It wasn't her," said Sully, there was no doubt in his voice.

"I wasn't suggesting it was when I said that," said Nate with a sigh.

"If I was working for this Rafe why would I wish to leave?" I said, now standing up as Nate waved at me to not get involved.

"To go inform him of course," snapped Sam, standing and turning to me.

"Of what?!" I demanded. "That you're going to Madagascar, which you tell me so is he. That you have a brown thing that all Avery's recruits have, that it's more treasure then you thought? How is any of that helpful!"

"Here," said Sam, striding over and placing the object in my hand which was indeed a coin. "Now at least you can tell him it's a coin."

"Enough!" called Sully, making us all turn. "Let's finish this discussion when we get there."

I sighed, I couldn't win. I sat down in my seat and stared at the copper-like coin in my hand. It did indeed on one side have a volcano. There was nothing distinctive about said volcano, but the others seemed to have an idea where we were going so who was I to argue. I flipped it and studied the image on the other side. It looked like a pair of scales, though it was quite worn and if you turned it the other way it looked more like a trident. I shrugged; I liked coins, but this told me practically nothing. I rolled it in my fingers and then proffered it back to Sam, but he didn't take it. In fact, he didn't seem to notice I was even offering it to him so I cleared my throat loudly and tried again. He looked up and spotting what I was doing, he received it off me with a nod. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Nate looking at me, but I turned away. I wished I could get my music from my bag to distract myself, but I figured it might cause issues with Sam so I just sat and tried to tell myself stories in my head instead. It was going to be a long flight.

When we finally touched down in King's Bay I had never wanted off a plane so much in my life. I was all ready to leg it and leave them to catch me if they could. I didn't care at that point, but instead I chose to stupidly stay, which may have been in fact a wise decision, considering that I did not know what certain people might do. Plus I probably would not have got far come to think of it.

It was early morning, the lights still on as the first pinkie rays of dawn dusted the clouds. The air was warm, or at least warmer then Scotland had been, and the water here gently caressed the docks showing none of the harshness of the North Sea. A completely different atmosphere and I enjoyed standing on the docks just taking it all in. Nate pulled out his phone to call Elena, I assumed, and I moved away so as to give him some privacy. Sully and Sam were just sorting the plane and so I took my time to enjoy the peacefulness of the place.

We had travelled all night and the next day and into the next night, stopping only the minimum amount of times on the just over twenty four hour flight for fuel. Every stop had given us all a chance to stretch our legs, catch a little sleep in Sully's case and on the last one change into lighter clothing, but each time we had not stopped for long. This fact combined with the long flight and the excitement of Scotland meant that all four of us were pretty tired, but especially Sully, who unlike the rest of us had not been able to sleep on the plane. Not that any of us had got that much sleep anyway.

Sam and Sully finally came up the docks past Nate lugging their bags towards me. Sully gave Nate a look and then glanced at me, it appeared he was spinning the truth to Elena again. Sooner or later, I thought, she's going to cotton on to it and then there will be all hell to pay. It was like a train wreck waiting to happen and I only hoped it would not derail them completely.

Nate finished the phone call and came to join us. Having paid for visas, we made our way through the streets to the Ikopa Motel, Sam behind me all the way as if he was ensuring I would not run. We booked four rooms eventually which again Sam seemed to think was unwise. I overheard him whisper to Nate that I might make a dash in the night, but he seemed to somehow avert his older brother's fears as we took all four. I was so relieved to finally get into my room and have some space away from the constantly judging eyes of Sam Drake, that I all but locked my door in their faces, threw my bags down and leapt face first onto the bed. I lay there for a good hour enjoying 'me time' before there was a knock at the door and there the three of them stood, like the Spanish inquisition come to get me.

"So," I said, looking at them all. "Am I free to go?"

I met Sully's tired eyes and knew immediately it wasn't going to be that simple.

"So that's a no then," I said with a sigh.

"Can we come in?" asked Nate, to which I nodded and moved to allow them entry. Sam shut the door behind them as I sat down on the bed and Nate joined me. "Look I know you want to go, but just for now we need you to stay."

"Why?" I queried, looking him in the eye. "Do you still believe I'm going to go off and tell whoever, whatever?"

"No, you know I don't believe that," said Nate with a shake of his head.

"But he does," I said, indicating to Sam.

"Look," said Nathan, running a hand through his hair. "It would just make it easier if you stayed."

"How is it easier?" I said with a look of disbelief. "If you stick me on a plane home it means I'm gone. Out of your hair. No longer in the picture. How is that not easier?"

"It's because…well…," he started, but whatever he wanted to say he could not think of it or make it sound reasonable. His expression suggested that there was something he wasn't telling me, but that he felt it was not his place to do so. So instead he sat there, struggling to justify his reasoning and I saw him glance at Sully and then his brother. Nate sighed and met Sam's eyes. "I'm sorry Sam. Even I can't think of a good enough reason anymore."

The room went silent and I could see I had no way out of this.

"Fine," I said with a sigh. "I'll stay here then."

"You can't stay here," said Sam, making us turn and look at him. "You have to come with us."

He could not be serious I thought, but one look told me he was.

"Why?" I asked, not taking my eyes from him. "Is it because you think if I stay I'll call for help or something?"

"Maybe," said Sam, a strange look on his face. "Who knows what you might do."

"Are you serious?" I said, staring at him.

He nodded and I could have thrown something at him right there and then.

"I'm no use to you out there," I argued, getting to my feet. "At worst I'll be a burden or get in your way."

"Well, we know that's not true," said Nate with a slight grin to which I rolled my eyes at him.

Sam just looked confused, so I took my chance to continue.

"I'm not willing to be a meat shield or a human pincushion, you know, full of holes. Though it would be bullets rather then pins, so I guess that would be a bulletcushion. Which is not a thing, but whatever, you get my point."

"This is why I don't trust you," said Sam, causing me to halt my ramble and look up at him.

"What?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Because I don't want to get murdered?"

"No," he responded. "Because you refuse to do anything we ask you to. Why would you act in such a way unless you wanted to make me more suspicious of you and therefore ensure I keep you around."

"So, let me get this straight," I said, quite unable to believe what I was hearing, god he was paranoid. "You're saying that if I agreed to do everything you told me to do, I could leave?"

"Well clearly not now," said Sam with a shake of his head. "If you started doing that now, it would make you even more suspicious then you are already."

I couldn't win.

"For goodness' sake!" I exclaimed, wishing beyond belief someone would remove me from this nightmare of lunacy.

"Just saying," he added, a funny look on his face. "A person in your position should be…more cooperative."

"Well now you've just confirmed it for me with that vague threat," I snapped. "I thought this was like being kidnapped, but now I'm sure. You've become treasure hunters and kidnappers now have we!"

I looked around them all.

"I never expected that from you two," I said, pointing to Sully and Nate before rounding on Sam. "But I don't know you so maybe I should expect such from you!"

Sam gave me an odd look, like I was accusing him of something he thought I didn't know about him. Nate got to his feet and placing his hands on my shoulders, turned me to him.

"Please, just calm down," he said, a pleading look on his face. "Just make it easier and come with us."

I shrugged him off.

"There you go with that whole 'making it easier' thing again," I said, glaring at him. "So is Sam the leader now? Is he in charge here? What he says goes. Let me guess, we're playing Sam says?"

"Look…it's complicated," said Nate with a defeated sigh as he sat back down with a thump on the bed.

"You're asking me to risk my life for complicated?" I queried, my eyes trained on Nate's drained looking features. "Cause I can't do that."

Nate looked at Sam and then back at me.

"You could say it's Sam's life on the line," said Nate.

"We're back to the whole saving Sam thing then?" I said, causing all three to look at me. I shrugged. "What? I was in the room remember, when you were all discussing it and the cross. So in actual fact then, you're asking me to risk my life for Sam, someone I hardly know."

"No lass," said Sully, stepping forward having remained silent throughout. "We'd be asking you to risk your life for all of us. We're all a part of this now."

I sighed and turned my back on them all for a moment, staring at the carpet beneath my feet. This was it, there was no other way and to be honest I knew in my heart I could not let my friends down. Finally I lifted my head.

"Very well," I said, feeling the tension in the room lift. I turned back to them. "But if I die then _you_ are the ones who are paying for the funeral and _you_ ," I pointed at Nate, " and Sully are going to have to break the news to my Dad!"

I looked between them.

"Got it?!"

They nodded.

"Right then, speaking of my Father," I said now, while I had their attention. "I need to ring him or he'll be calling out the national guard. Since I can't do it without Sam's consent, I thought I better ask and if you're really concerned Sully can even dial the number for me."

Nate looked at Sam who nodded it was fine, but then he paused.

"Put it on speaker phone."

Sam's request somehow didn't surprise me. I did so and dialled the number. Three rings and then he answered.

 _"Hello?"_

"Hi Dad."

 _"Darling, where on earth have you been. I was starting to worry. Why haven't you called?"_

"I was having trouble with my phone, but it's working now."

 _"Ok, did you get a new battery?"_

"Yes it's ordered."

 _"Ok, so did you get your dinosaur then?"_

I could feel Sam's eyes on me at those words.

"Well…that didn't exactly go to plan. The auction got cancelled and they are currently deciding when to re-hold it so, I'm just waiting."

 _"Oh, that's a pain. Did you get hold of the museum?"_

"No, not yet, but I think they trust me not to do a runner with their money."

 _"I should hope so, what with all that you do for them."_

"Yep, anyway, luckily a friend whose in Madagascar had something they wanted me to come take a look at so that's where I am right now."

 _"Ooh, are you going to take time to go and see the lemur sanctuary they have there?"_

"Maybe, I get the feeling I will probably not have time."

 _"That's a shame. I know you wanted to go to Madagascar just to see that."_

"Yep, maybe I'll get to see some wild ones while I'm here."

 _"Hope you do. Well I have to be off to work. Take care out there. Love you."_

"Love you too."

 _"Bye."_

"Bye."

I clicked off and as I did it felt like to me the room had grown a little colder. I missed him. I saw out of the corner of my eye Sam was shaking his head. I turned to him.

"A dinosaur?" he said, disbelief present in his voice.

"I did try to tell you," said Sully, clapping Sam on the shoulder.

"Who would have believed it," replied Sam.

"Right, well, I think it's time we head out and get a few supplies for tomorrow," said Nate, grinning at the fact his brother still seemed unable to get his head round the idea of the Rossi Estate auctioning off a dinosaur. "Since you're coming with us, we better see if we can get you some more appropriate kit."

"Yeah," I said with a smile. "For some reason I just cannot fathom, I left all my 'I'm-stuck-going-on-a-wild-pirate-treasure-hunt-adventure' gear at home."

Nate grinned.

"Shall we?" said Sully and all four of us headed for the door.

When we finally returned to the hotel we had everything except the car, which we would hire in the morning from the rental place Sully knew. We'd had lunch out at a Fast Burger which was adequate at best, but I knew better then to complain. Besides, Sully had promised we could have dinner at a restaurant he knew of where the food was good and of course we found out later he was right.

Dinner started off pretty quiet. As I took a pause from eating, I chose to glance around the table at the others. A smile came to my face at the sight of Nate eating with his eyes closed, his head occasionally nodding. He stirred himself, however, and glanced up at me before giving me a soft smile and yawning. He then gave an indicatory nod to his brother and I turned my gaze to Sam.

His elbows were resting on the table on either side of his plate, his head, face down, cradled in the upturned palms of his hands. His eyes were covered by his palms, but it appeared by the very gradual and occasional slide of his elbows that he was also half asleep. I nodded at Nate and glanced at Sully, who aside from yawning seemed to be coping remarkably well. I returned my attention to my food.

I was almost finished, enjoying every mouthful with relish when I heard Sully chuckle and I looked at him.

"I think this is the happiest I've seen you since you joined us on this trip," he said with a smile.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam stir.

"You can't beat fresh Madagascan Tiger prawns and lemon mayonnaise," I replied, smiling back.

"Well you earned them," said Sully with a nod.

"By the way, Victor," said Sam, now sitting up with a tired sigh. "Nice shooting back in Scotland. I forgot to thank you for it."

Sully looked at Sam with a slightly confused expression, his brow furrowing and then he paused.

"Oh that wasn't him," said Nate, taking another mouthful of food. "That was-"

His words were cut short as he suddenly took a sharp intake of breath due to Sully, I guess, kicking him under the table. He looked at us and his eyes widened, before he swung his attention back to Sam who was already looking between us. Sam then focused on me and his look turned dark.

"You gave her a gun!" he exclaimed, loud enough for several people including a waiter to turn and look at our table.

"Not so loud!" said Sully with a shake of his head.

Sam glared.

"You guys gave her a weapon," he continued more quietly. "Knowing full well that we don't know where her allegiance lies. She could have shot any of us."

"But I didn't," I said, but he ignored me.

"What if she'd shot you, Sully," he said, stabbing his fork into his food. "How would we have got out of there, huh?"

"But I didn't!" I snapped, half standing up and causing more heads to turn.

I felt Sully's hand on my arm and properly retook my seat with a look of apology in his direction.

"You're forgetting she saved your life, Sam," said Nate, causing Sam to stare in the direction of his little brother. "Her shot technically saved both of us. You can't deny that."

Sam said nothing and in fact looked as if he was trying to think of a way to indeed deny it. Nate turned to me.

"Thank you, Freya," he said, before glancing at his brother. "Sam?"

Sam was staring at his plate, seemingly cursing under his breath. He finally looked up.

"Thanks," he growled, before setting to on the remainder of his food in silence.

Nate looked apologetically at me and I shrugged.

With dinner done we returned to our rooms at the motel. Nate's room 101 was first, then came Sam's room 102, followed by my room 103 and Sully's 104. Sam had insisted I go between him and Sully so there was no way I could sneak out without one of them hearing. As we all stood before our doors, removing our keys to unlock them, I felt Sam's eyes on me.

"I'm not going to leg it in the night," I said, giving him a look.

He narrowed his eyes at me and with a tired sigh he shook his head and entered his room, slamming the door behind him.

"Don't worry about him, lass," said Sully kindly to which I nodded. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Night," I said.

"Night, guys," said Nate as he entered his room.

"Night," we both replied.

As I finally got in and shut and locked the door, a great sense of relief fell over me. I could have a few hours to myself. I got ready for bed and got my little fluffy mascot out and stuck him on my bedside table. He was a little black and white Ruffed lemur and I took him everywhere.

I got into bed with my book, the rooms either side of me having long since gone silent, yet I did not read. Tomorrow was going to be interesting and it played on my mind. Yes it was an adventure, but a dangerous one. These people we were up against were not messing around. Shoreline, from what I knew, were not afraid to pull out the big guns and I did not wish to find myself on the other end of one. I sighed; there was nothing I could do. Even if I was prepared to prove Sam right, I couldn't bare the thought of doing so.

I put the book down and switched off the light, letting the darkness settle around me. Tomorrow was another day, one I hoped I was still living at the end of.

* * *

Right there we go, what did we think? I know there wasn't a huge amount of action, but we'll get out into the Madagascan wilds next chapter. As always, if you feel like making my day by pressing the review button I'm always grateful. Thanks. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, they certainly brought a smile to my face. To whitephoenix18, I'm glad you enjoyed it and here is the next one, even earlier then promised. To Neon Jack, see what you think of this one.

Right, well, here is the chapter, I was going to put it up tomorrow morning, but as that's already becoming busy I'm giving it to you now. I hope you all enjoy it. There's more UC4 dialogue, but you all know that. So without further ado, let's head into the wilds of Madagascar...enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

We were all up early the next morning and off to the four-by-four rental place that Sully knew. However it didn't go quite as smoothly as we had thought it would. Sully spent a good deal of time haggling with the man who seemed reluctant to let go of his vehicles for some reason or other. Nate was stood next to Sully and he looked a little awkward, I thought, from where I stood under the ever watchful eye of Sam, though at that point he seemed as curious as I was about what was taking so long. Nate's expression made part of me wonder if he had something to do with the reason Sully was still haggling, practically arguing, with the rental man, but then again maybe the man was just fond of his cars. After all, if he actually knew of Nate's and Sully's track record with vehicles he'd have shut his shop the moment he laid eyes on them.

Eventually we succeeded in getting a vehicle and we made a detour to the docks to pick up the rifle, Sully had got me, from the plane. Sam grumbled about it and insisted it remained unloaded till when it might actually be useful. I agreed immediately to what seemed to be his surprise and we finally set off out of the city.

Sully had once again let me sit up front next to Nate while he and Sam were in the back. Sully was using the GPS on his phone to direct us towards the volcano which could actually be seen rising high above King's Bay. As the car rattled and bounced along the increasingly dirt track like roads, I made an effort to enjoy the scenery and look out for wildlife and the famous Baobab trees. If I was going to be dragged around Madagascar, I was going to make the most of it.

Half an hour out of the city, I found myself turning in my seat to question how far and how long Sully thought it would take to get to where we were headed, to find for once Sam Drake's eyes were not on me. In fact they were closed and his head was slumped slightly to the side, rocking back and forth on his chest to the movement of the vehicle. I smiled to myself now turning back in my seat once again to watch the road ahead, but Nate notice my expression.

"What you smiling about?" he asked, glancing at me.

I indicated with a nod of my head behind me and he glanced in the rear view mirror before smiling himself.

"I don't think he sleeps well," I said quietly.

"Hmm," said Nate, sounding as if he was concurring.

Sully noticed what we were glancing at and leaning forward, he whispered.

"He's been like that since we left King's Bay."

"Just leave him be," I replied and the other two nodded in agreement.

An hour later I heard Sully swear under his breath and I turned in my seat again, this time to see he was raising and moving his phone as if he was trying to get a signal.

"Something wrong?" I asked quietly.

"Goddamn satellites!" he grumbled.

"Sully?" queried Nate. "Do you know where we have to go?"

"I would if this thing was working," he replied, still waving his phone about.

"You want me to stop?" asked Nate, glancing in the mirror.

Sully nodded and Nate brought the car to a halt. The cease in movement caused Sam to stir and he looked around sleepily at his surroundings.

"Are we there yet?" he asked, his voice sounding a little rough.

"Not quite," replied Nate as Sully jumped out the car and began walking around trying to find a signal.

Sam yawned and stretched before getting out to stretch his legs. He walked in Sully's direction while Nate and I remained in the car.

"What are the satellites saying, Victor?" asked Sam, casually tossing a rock he had found up and down in his hand.

Sully turned in a circle.

"Right now, not a goddamn thing," he replied, as Nate sighed, rolling his eyes, and made to get out of the car. "I lost the signal."

"Hey, y'know what never loses its signal?" said Nate as he got out, leaving the door ajar, and walked round to the bonnet. He waved a folded bit of parchment at them. "Paper."

He half laughed as he unfolded the paper upon the bonnet to reveal a map with a couple of routes drawn in red and blue on it.

"All right," he said, pointing to the blue one. "This route right here should take us straight to the volcano."

He then looked at them, shrugging slightly.

"Might get a little bumpy though," he added.

Neither of them made a complaint. Sam tossed his stone up once more and caught it before chucking it away.

"Let's get this show on the road," he said.

"Okay," agreed Sully

"All right," nodded Nate.

They all got back in and Nate started up the engine. I reached down into my bag, that was at my feet, and removed my MP3 player. As I started to set it up and Nate made to set off, we both stopped as Sam spoke.

"What on earth is that!" he demanded, leaning forward and pointing to my machine. "Have you had another phone all this time!"

"What? No!" I responded, moving the player out of his reach before he could snatch it off me. "It's just an MP3 player."

"A what?" he snapped.

"A music player," said Nate, turning in his seat. "You know, like a walkman or a portable CD player. Surely you remember those? Well like the tape was replaced with the CD, the CD was replaced with digital music or MP3s and that's what that is."

"Still looks like a phone to me," Sam grumbled in reply.

"Yeah it does," I said, turning to look at him. "But it has no phone capabilities. No network, no way of dialling, no speaker to speak into. I promise you, it's not a phone."

Sam sighed but he didn't look happy.

"Can I listen to my music then?" I asked, meeting Sam's eyes.

He looked at me for a couple of minutes before finally relenting and indicating with a nod of his head I could. I gave him a smile of thanks and he lent back in his seat as I turned back around. I put my earphones in, chose a song and pressed play.

We set off down the dirt track roads, the other three chatting about what they were looking for I presumed. I glanced at the scenery while nodding my head casually to the beat of the song that was playing. I did notice however we passed a pile of stones stacked in a little tower and wondered what it meant. It was a cairn of some sort, that was clear, but as to the reason it was just there rather than on the top of a mountain or hill summit was unclear to me. Yet we had passed it before I had time to think to ask the others' opinions.

The weather was warm and sunny and I have to admit, despite everything, I was actually enjoying myself. As we drove up a small incline Sully spotted some ruins and we stopped beside them. Nate jumped out to have a look, while we remained in the car. I took out one headphone so I could hear Nate if he found anything, subsequently it meant I had to listen to Sam and Sully.

"So Victor," began Sam. "You still do a lot of travelling these days?"

"I try…" he replied. "I tend to pick jobs that get me away from the computer."

"I was telling Nathan…" Sam continued, glancing in Nate's direction. "It's shocking how much of the business has moved to the internet. I mean, I bet you have all sorts of options to get rid of hot cargo now."

"Yeah sure," Sully concurred. "But I prefer talking to clients face-to-face…get a good read on 'em. Hard to do that in a chat room talking to some guy named 'Antiquity Master 37'."

Sam laughed and so did I, but quietly.

"Yeah, I could see that," he replied.

Nate came back then, having seemingly found nothing, and jumped back into the car.

"Well?" queried Sam and we all looked at him.

"Ah, nothing worthwhile," he answered as he set off. "C'mon, let's keep going."

Through a puddle and off a rocky ledge down into muddier tracks we went. It was just as I was deciding to put my headphone back in that Nate spoke.

"So with our luck," he started, making me pause. "What are the odds this volcano is going to erupt on us?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but Sully beat me to it.

"Zero," he replied. "It's extinct. Trust me that's the first thing I looked up when we said we were heading for a volcano. That and where to rent the cheapest 4x4."

"Wait, Sully…" said Nate with a glance in his mirror. "You're telling me that you actually did some research?"

"Can't let you be the know-it-all every time, kid," he replied and it brought a smile to my face.

We headed down towards what appeared to be a meandering river, past another one of those cairn towers and into the water. Nate drove through it, the car occasionally sliding about, and appeared to be planning on heading towards a bridge we had seen, when he spotted a waterfall. He looked at it quizzically and turned us towards it. As we drove up and onto the rocks beside it you could see there appeared to be a path behind it. So missing the water, we drove behind it and found that there was indeed a cave. I took my headphone out again and looked around catching the tail end of the current conversation.

"Gentlemen, we are on a pirate adventure," announced Sam.

Nate raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"What are you, seven?" he said as he got out the vehicle.

He headed off into the back of the cave. I relaxed and stuck my headphone back in, but the music was quiet enough that I could hear that Sam and Sully were chatting again. It was cool and damp in that cave, but it was not unpleasant. The cavern was empty except for some wooden structures I could see where Nate had gone. Yet if I focused my mind I could imagine figures moving around in it. Men sat round burning fires as the night drew in, others stood atop the wooden structures issuing orders to those of lower rank, sentries stood watching for movement near and behind the waterfall, weapons being cleaned, powder barrels being counted. Though I seemed to be picturing soldiers rather then pirates. I listened to the music and tried to see the pirates instead, they were more loud then the first men I pictured, but my thoughts came to an end when Nate returned once again.

"All right, lets get moving," he said, those words telling me he had not found much. He reversed the car and as he did I got a sneaking suspicion he was going to go off the rock that looked a little like a ramp and straight through the waterfall. I rapidly removed my head phones and threw my player in the bag as he set off, scrambling to shut it, and just succeeded for as I sat back up the wall of water hit me and my stomach dropped as he did exactly what I'd predicted.

"A little warning next time?" said Sully, sounding un-amused as he shook the water off his hands.

"Yeah," concurred Sam. "That's the first time in years I've had two showers in one day."

I gave Nate a glare and he gave me an apologetic look back. I did not get my player out again, but I did go back in my slightly damp bag and turn it off.

We now headed for the bridge which Sam commented looked rickety. Heading up a muddy track I spotted another cairn and there was another at the top of the slope up to the bridge as well. At least there was until Nate lost some control and smashed it to bits.

"Wonder who made these cairns…?" said Nate, looking over his door at the pile of scattered stones he'd just knocked down. "Must be a trail marker. Let's keep an eye out for them."

"And try not to run any more down?" I asked to which Nate smirked.

"Yeah," he concurred.

"There have been several that we've passed by the way," I commented as he got the car back on course.

"Nice to know I wasn't the only one who noticed them," replied Nate with a grin.

He now approached the bridge.

"Okay, kid," said Sully, his voice sounding uneasy. "Just…don't drop us."

"Hey, just, keep it slow," added Sam, sounding actually a little nervous. "Keep it in the centre."

"Yeah," said Nate with a shake of his head. "There's a lot of backseat driving going on right now."

Suddenly the bridge partly gave way, dropping us down slightly, but thankfully remaining intact.

"Whoa!" yelled Sam as Sully and I just gripped the sides of the car.

"We're good," said Nate, trying mostly to reassure himself. "Everything's good."

"Jesus Christ," said Sully as we reached the other side.

I took a calming breath and noticed another cairn, trail markers seemed to fit.

The roads, if you could call them that, only got muddier from there and we finally reached a hill the car would not climb so we had to find another way round. There was a road off to the left of the muddy slope so we headed in that direction, skiing and sliding about like some drunk until we reached the firmer ground and dropped down again.

"Oh, Jesus," exclaimed Sully, causing me to turn in my seat in concern. "Oh, my spine."

Yet he waved me off and I turned back as we re-found the river again. Through we went and up the rocks on the other side which showed from the tyre marks that someone had already been this way. Yet as we crested the rocks something caught my eye.

"Look out!" I exclaimed, grabbing Nate's arm and causing him to slam on the brakes. "Don't hit the Ring-tails!"

"What the hell?!" snapped Sam as he and Sully were jerked forward.

"The lemurs," I said, marvelling at them as they now scampered up the rocks. I pointed to them. "Look, actual wild ones! Aren't they beautiful."

"Jesus, I thought you'd seen something important!" growled Sam, sitting back in his seat. "You know, like the volcano or Rafe about to shoot us all. Not a bunch of furry animals."

"Hey, they're endangered!" I replied, anger lacing my words. "You're lucky to see them, not that you would care. They're not shiny and can put profit in your pocket so you don't give a damn, but to me their worth more then all the gold in the world!"

He gave me a look but I turned my back on him, refusing to say anymore. The lemurs had gone now and so Nate made continued when Sam spoke.

"Hey, look up there on the hill!" he said, pointing at what appeared to be a building. "Got a tower or something."

I could feel his eyes giving me what I was sure was a look that said 'Now there's something useful!'

"Now we're talking," said Sully as Nate headed down the rocks and back into the river.

As we reached the bottom and drove around attempting to find how we were supposed to get up there, Sam voiced a question that I had forgotten that I too had wanted to ask.

"Hey Victor," he started. "What were you arguing with the rental guy about?"

"Oh," he replied and from his tone I knew he thought the answer was ridiculous. "Your brother insisted on getting a 4x4 with a winch."

"So you sprung for the winch," continued Sam. "But you couldn't spring for the suspension. I got it!"

"Hey it's important," said Nate defensively. "Going off road, might rain, might be muddy."

"But with Nate being so eager…" continued Sully as we drove up a rocky path. "He doubled the price."

"He would have doubled it anyway," said Nate, rolling his eyes.

"I'll bet we go through this whole goddamn thing and never use that winch," commented Sully.

I had to purposely look away to hide my grin as we crossed another smaller part of the river and made to head up another large, flat, slanted rock that also had tyre marks on it. My grin vanished however as the rock moved.

"Easy!" yelled Sam.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Nate as the rock continued to move sideways.

"Ah shit!" added Sully, but the rock ceased its movement and we made it onto the next bit of narrow path that went up and then down. Ahead in a tree some large brownish creature leapt down from the branches and I wondered if it was some other kind of lemur or maybe even a Fossa, but I didn't get a good enough look to be sure.

As we reached a narrow corner with only bushes as a barrier between us and the edge Sully lent forward in his seat.

"Take this slow, kid…" he said, an uneasiness in his voice.

"Yeah…" replied Nate as he negotiated the corner with relative ease.

Up we drove now, climbing towards the tower, and the conversation turned back to the treasure, though it did not surprise me that it was Sam who brought the topic back.

"So Nathan," he started, leaning forward a little in his seat. "You're thinking Avery, Tew, and some other big-shot pirates pooled their treasure, and came out here because…why exactly?"

The track levelled out and began to wind again.

"Who knows, maybe for protection?" suggested Nate, occasionally glancing in the mirror at his brother as he spoke. "British authorities were closing in on 'em."

"Sure," replied Sam with a glance at me. "Maybe he helped them disappear? I mean, the guy clearly had a knack for hiding things."

We dropped down a ledge and into a shallow muddy pool. Ahead of us was a steep muddy incline and Nate put his foot down with every intention of going up.

"And…go!" he said as the jeep went up a little way before its wheels lost traction and spun. The vehicle lost all momentum and we slid backwards back down into the muddy pool.

"And…no," said Sully, bringing a smile to my face.

"Ah, it was a valiant effort," commented Sam as I shook my head and leaning my elbow on the side of the truck, my head in my hand, I side glanced at Nate who sighed.

Then he smiled and jumped out the car.

"Let's go check out that tower," he said, heading for a set of stone stairs that led down from the tower to the muddy pool.

"I'll come with," said Sam also getting out and heading after his brother. "It's in pretty good shape for something several hundred years old."

"Yeah," concurred Nate, having reached the base of the tower. "They're definitely ruins from Avery's era."

They disappeared into the ruins of the tower while Sully and I remained at the bottom in the jeep. Sully leant forward.

"No urge to go and join them?" he asked.

I laughed and then swung in my seat.

"No," I replied with a look. "I'm not getting out into that."

I pointed at the pool of muddy water the car was sat in.

"And I thought you were an outdoors sort of girl," said Sully with an eyebrow raised.

"Sure I am," I said with a grin. "I've had my fair share of outdoor experiences and all have taught me that keeping water out of one's boots is of the highest priority!"

He smiled and nodded a 'fair enough' nod.

"Are you sure you're alright in the back, Sully?" I queried.

"I'm fine, lass," he answered.

"Well it's just I can swap with you for a bit if you like?"

"I'm fine," he repeated with a look.

"Ok," I said with a shrug as I now spotted Nate was at the top of the incline. "As long as you're happy."

He gave my shoulder a squeeze as Nate slid down to us.

"Enjoying yourself are we?" I asked as he brushed excess mud off himself.

"Of course," he replied, giving me a cheerful wink to which I shook my head. He then moved to the front of the car and took hold of the winch before adding. "Hey, did you know our car came with a winch?"

I knew exactly who the comment was directed to.

"No, really?" replied Sully. "I didn't know. Whatcha gonna do with it?"

"Not sure yet," said Nate as he jogged back up the steps trailing the winch line behind him.

He disappeared up top, the winch line tightening, only to reappear and come jogging back down to us without the winch.

"All right, ready?" he queried, looking between the two of us and I nodded.

"Give it a shot," replied Sully.

The engine spluttered into life and forward we went.

"Here we go," said Nate as the jeep started up the hill. "Steady…"

The jeep was making progress.

"Steady..."

Sam appeared from within the tower to stand at the side and watch our progress as we thankfully crested the hill. Nate laughed.

"You see, Sully?" he said proudly. "Winch. Totally worth it."

"We cleared a hill," remarked Sully. "It hasn't exactly paid for itself."

"Well, not yet," replied Nate as he jumped out the car to unhook the winch and Sam got back in. "Small victories."

"Yeah, well, I'll celebrate the big ones," said Sully, his tone suggesting he was still unimpressed.

Nate jumped back in and we continued on up over a small rise to come face to face with the very volcano we had been looking for. A magnificent sight rising up high over the landscape impressive enough to take one's breath away. Sam stood up and lent on the bar that separated the two halves of the car.

"Feast your eyes, gentlemen," he said, pausing before adding. "And lady."

"Thanks," I said, rolling my eyes to myself.

"Wow," said Nate.

"Spectacular," said Sully.

"Geology," I added with a shrug and a grin.

Sam sighed.

"Just imagine…" he started, ignoring my comment. "You've come here, a well-to-do pirate, far away from your oppressive government…"

Sully laughed.

"Poor, oppressed pirates," he interjected. "All they wanted to do was to murder and pillage in peace."

"No, no," argued Sam. "They wanted to live as free men."

"Well…" said Nate. "If you're gonna pick a place to runaway from society, you could do a lot worse then here."

On we drove along the windy, muddy roads, dropping down past a cairn and another ruin of some sort of building. Once again we stopped, but there was still not much of interest according to Nate's reconnaissance so we continued once more.

"It's taking forever to get to this volcano," commented Sully as the car skied a little on the mud as the track straightened out.

"Patience, Victor. Patience," soothed Sam. "Do you know how those pirates got here? They had to start in England, sail to Brazil, then cut back across the Atlantic to South Africa…"

"Sam-" Sully tried.

"And they figured all that out with paper, charts, and by looking at the stars," continued Sam as we reached a muddy pool.

Nate glanced around, working out where to go.

"Hey," said Sully. "You're describing sailing to a former squid."

"The point is," explained Sam as I pointed to a path that seemed to lead up around a corner to which Nate nodded. "We got it pretty easy."

"Yeah?" replied Sully as we drove up it and another building structure came into view. "Well…still taking a long time."

Suddenly the relative peace was shattered by a large explosion and I raced to cover my ears as the sound caused them to ache.

"Oh, shit," exclaimed Sully, leaning forward to grab Nate's shoulder. "Stop, stop!"

The car came to a dramatic halt, flinging us all forward.

"I see 'em," said Nate, staring at the figures moving about like ants around the ruins. Sully tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the glove box. I nodded and opened it as Nate lent over and removed a pair of binoculars. "Here."

"What do we got?" asked Sam as he and Sully lent forward.

"Military types, poking around," answered Nate and my heart sank.

"Nadine's guys?" queried Sam.

"Yep," responded Nate.

"Son of a bitch," cursed Sam, leaning back in his seat.

Looks like they found an old colony outpost," continued Nate, turning around to lend the binoculars to Sully.

"But the wrong one, right?" asked Sully as he received the binoculars.

Nathan sighed.

"That's the good news," he said and I knew immediately I did not like where this was going.

"That means there's bad news," replied Sully while looking through the binoculars.

"The only route to the volcano is straight through them," answered Nate with a glance at me and I'm sure my expression betrayed my thoughts.

"Well, shit," said Sully, saying what we all were thinking. "We do have the drop on 'em."

Sam lent forward again.

"What's the play here, Nathan?" he asked while I stared at my lap.

He thought for a few moments before he shook his head and answered.

"Just follow my lead."

We drove down the hill and parked behind a large rock that, thankfully, obscured the car from the outpost. Nate got out and the other two joined him before he paused and looked at me.

"You should probably just stay in the car," he said, watching my face intently as he tried to read what I thought.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam's complain-y face engage.

"And what if one of those guys comes up here and finds me?" I asked, meeting his eyes. "They're not just going to say 'hey, lovely day for a drive' are they? They're going to shoot first and ask questions later. That or drag me off for gang rape."

All three of them looked at me at those words.

"What?" I queried and Nate just cleared his throat.

"What are you suggesting then?" he asked, getting him a glare from Sam.

"How about I find a rock vantage point," I said, indicating to several large rocks around us. "Then I could just wait there and if you guys look like you need help I can do something, otherwise I can just stay there while you do your thing."

"How is that any different from waiting in the car?" asked Sam, making me turn to him.

"Because from such a vantage point it's less likely somebody will get the drop on me," I replied, holding his gaze. "Besides I can't do much from here, I can't see."

"We don't require your help-" started Sam.

"Sam-"interjected Nate with a look.

"No, I'm sure you don't," I said, causing them all to return their gaze to me. "But it can't hurt to have it right?"

Sam's expression was unreadable.

"Sounds good to me," commented Sully.

"I agree," concurred Nate and Sam could see he was being overruled, he said nothing.

I grabbed up the rifle, pocketed the ammo and then handing my phone to Sam - who seemed surprised, like he had not thought to ask for it - and with a nod to the other two, I crept off to find myself a good rock. It took me all of about four minutes to select one and once I was settled on it, lying flat on my stomach, I made sure I knew where the three men were. They were stealthily moving through the tall grass, like lions or tigers, waiting a few moments for a patrolling guard to look the other way and then running to the next patch of grass across the way. I made an effort to keep one eye on them and one on any nearby guards to ensure that they were not compromised at any point too early. I felt tense, but I was also right that somehow I felt safer upon this rock then I knew I would have felt waiting in the car.

Nate's stealth option led the three round to the right side of the ruins as you looked at them. There was a smaller structure on the far right side which appeared to have two guards stationed upon it. Nate scrambled up when their backs were turned and took each one out quietly in quick succession. He now had one of the guard's weapons as well as his hand gun. Making a signal to Sully and Sam that he was ready to take out the two men on patrol at the base of tower, he seemed to pause as he worked out how he was going to get there. Then to my surprise he moved and swung straight over the gap between the structure and the tower and punched out the nearest of the two. Yet he made too much noise and the other man was alerted, causing my breath to catch. Then Sam appeared from the stairwell like a ninja and took the alerted man out which would have been great had another man not spotted the commotion. It took mere minutes for it all to kick off.

I flattened myself to the rock as a sniper who was in the tower began scanning for the three men who were shooting, punching and flinging themselves behind cover somewhere below him. I knew he only had to scope one of them and his shot would be fatal. The three were coping well and I shuddered as a grenade went off near them allowing the sniper to hone in. I made my choice.

The man jerked as my shot hit, propelling him off the tower and down the sickening drop to the bottom. I felt relief, but it was short lived as I spotted that back up for the shoreline lot was appearing. I moved to line up another shot when something smashed into a rock near by causing me to jump. My eyes returned immediately to the tower, scanning rapidly, and finally I located another sniper, higher up then the first. I got the impression he was not entirely sure of my location and the first shot had been to attempt to scare me out, but I was not about to take chances. As I raced to line up a shot, the other sniper was distracted and it was then I spotted Nate climbing up the side of the tower. He had just lost his grip slightly, knocking some part of the crumbling structure off and the sound had attracted the attention of my enemy. He moved towards Nate and I used his distraction to my advantage. The man crumpled and Nate pulled himself up.

The trio seemed to have got the upper hand now and almost all the Shoreliners had been taken care of. A couple were holding out, but with Nate up in the tower they didn't last long. I have to say that I was relieved when the echo of the last shot resounded around the area and the peacefulness of before resumed, but I doubted it would be the last fire fight of the day.

I waited until each of the three men appeared from cover before gathering up my rifle and leaving my rock. I walked down the hill and into the vicinity of the tower, averting my eyes from the corpses that were scattered about. My attention was drawn to a square box with a plunger sat abandoned on a wall and as I made my way towards it, a voice called out.

"Thinking of blowing us all sky-high?"

I sighed and turned to look at Sam. He looked a bit roughed up with a few splatters of blood that clearly was not his, but otherwise he, like the other two who were also approaching, looked ok.

"No," I said and then with a slight smile I risked adding. "Though for you I might make an exception."

He gave me a look before just shrugging, though some part of me could of sworn I spotted a slight smile. I saw Nate and Sully smirk, but they kept their thoughts to themselves.

I looked at the detonator and then stepped away, but as I did I heard Nate half laugh.

"Are you not tempted to do the honours?" he asked and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't think your brother would like that," I replied, glancing at Sam.

Sam said nothing and then to my surprise he indicated with his hand I could.

"Go ahead," said Sully, moving to put his hands over his ears.

I thought about my hearing for a second, but my sense was overruled by my urge to push it down. After all, how often would I get the chance to do this? Why should the geophysics people have all the fun. I pushed it down.

Boom!

I grabbed my ears, not liking the pain it caused them, but it was fun none the less. The charge had blown a hole in what had been a boarded up doorway in the side of the tower. The four of us now went to see what was inside and I watched as Nate and Sam's faces lit up.

"Look. Another sigil…" commented Nate, pointing out a large round mosaic-like picture in the middle of the small dark room.

"Huh. Adam Baldridge," said Sam, coming to stand near his brother who had begun to sketch the image before him in one of his many notebooks. "He ran King's Bay for a while. He was a trader, slaver…general scoundrel."

"Look at you," responded Nate, sounding impressed.

"Yeah…" replied Sam, pausing a second to glance my way. "Prison…lot of books."

I paused at that line. Then he had been to prison, though that was not surprising. Both Nate and Sully had at some point gone to jail, several times in fact that I knew of, so why not Sam too. Hell, part of me had even suspected it was the case back in the hotel room in Italy. Yet, somehow, I got the impression that this had been worse then your average jail stint, not that I knew anything about jail. I guessed maybe it had been a bad jail or he had been in it for too long or maybe both. There was still something not quite right.

We now headed back to the car and drove through the ruins of the tower towards the bridge on the other side. I took one look at that bridge as we approached it and thought how much would I bet that it would hold us, not much as it turned out. The car was barely halfway across the wooden structure when it gave way.

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Well, there we go, I hope you all enjoyed it. Next week the chapter will be up on Saturday as normal. As always if you feel like telling me what you thought then click the review button. Always nice to hear what you think! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to Iamimanim and Neon Jack for your reviews, it makes my day to hear what people think. To Iamimanim, I'm glad you've been enjoying the story and it was nice to get your comment. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones. To Neon Jack, I'm glad your enjoying the story and we had to let Freya have a bit of fun! Hope you like this chapter too.

Ok, so here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. We have some more UC4 dialogue as always, when is there not lol. So on with the story...

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

"Oh, crap!" yelled Nate as both us and my stomach dropped down to the ground.

The jeep bounced slightly but landed safely, though my knuckles had gone white from the strength of my grip on the side of the vehicle.

"Jesus," complained Sully. "These pirates really need to work on their infrastructure."

"Now how do we get out of here?" queried Sam.

I looked at the two pillars holding the second half of the bridge up and I could see Nate looking at them too. He jumped out the jeep and grabbing the winch on the front, moved to wrap it round one of them.

"So…The Lost World: Jurassic Park then?" I queried.

Nate glanced at me as if he seemed slightly confused and I knew the other two were looking at me as well. He then jumped back in, put the car in reverse and began to pull. The thing seemed to move a little, but progress appeared slow.

"Try moving the car from side to side," I suggested and Nate proceeded to do exactly that.

Finally there was, for once, the satisfying sound of splintering wood and the post gave way. Nate jumped out again and repeated the process on the second post.

"Jurassic Park 2," I said with a nod.

This time Nate seemed to get the reference and giving me a wink, he jumped back in and once more weaved the car back and forth in reverse.

"C'mon, c'mon!" encouraged Sam.

The pillar splintered and gave way causing the part of the remaining bridge to drop. Nate laughed.

"Again with the winch, Sully," he said with a smirk as we drove up onto the remains of the bridge. "Pretty handy, right?"

"I wasn't against getting the winch," explained Sully, almost defensively, as we reached the muddy road again. "I was against getting ripped off."

We drove up a small incline, the jeep skiing a little before dropping down once more and reaching more of the muddy grasslands. My stomach was just starting to wonder when this day would be over.

"Sully," started Nate. "Just how well do you know Nadine?"

"Why…?" asked Sully, sounding suspicious.

"I was thinking, maybe you could contact her," explained Nate as we saw another small ruin and headed for it. "Convince her to call off her goons?"

Sully laughed.

"Yeah, right," he replied.

"What if we promise her a bigger cut then Rafe?" queried Nate as he stopped the car next to the ruin.

I could once again feel Sam's eyes on me.

"No, that's not how she operates," answered Sully. "She's more of a money-up-front kind of mercenary. So Rafe's got the advantage there."

Nate nodded and got out.

"Be right back, guys," he said, jogging over to the ruin and beginning to climb.

He disappeared up onto the ruin and we sat there waiting, listening to the wind ruffle the grass around us. We did not have to wait long though. He soon returned. We continued slowly at first, due to being close to a stomach churning drop, round the ruin, past another cairn and along a small gully. It was as we reached the end of it that I heard Sam stand up again and lean on the bar. I figured he had seen something.

"Look," he said, pointing out to the distance. "Shoreline."

He was right, several large military style trucks could be seen rushing about, each heading in a different direction, like dangerous beetles. I also spotted my first baobab trees.

"Yeah," said Nate with a nod as Sam sat back down. "They're definitely going all in, aren't they?"

"And getting awful close to that volcano," added Sully.

"I was thinking the same damn thing," said Sam and Nate continued forward slowly, but stopped again as another vehicle appeared just beyond the baobabs. "What if they found the treasure already?"

"Well, look, they're searching every inch of this place," said Nate, indicating with his hand in the various directions the Shoreline vehicles had gone. "If they found it already, they wouldn't be searching."

"Yeah…" said Sam, seeming to relax a little. "Yeah, yeah you're right."

We now dropped down into the more open plains. Ahead was an oasis of sorts, a muddy looking pool of water surrounded by the baobabs. We headed left of the pool first, just in case the last Shoreline vehicle we had seen was still around and in doing so Sully spotted a sort of ruin.

"Hey, you think that old building's worth checking out?" he queried.

Nate nodded and turned the jeep in its direction.

"Hey Sam," started Sully as we made our way towards the small building. "If you don't mind me asking, how'd you pass the time in…"

He paused and the whole car went quiet. I could feel several glances wash over me.

"Go on," said Sam. "I figure she already knows. Rafe probably told her and if not, I'm pretty sure she heard me back there at the tower."

"Prison?" finished Sully.

"Ah, y'know…reading mostly," he replied, relaxing back in his seat. "There was this one guard, saw me as a charity case, I guess. He'd check out books from the library for me."

"So what'd you read?" queried Sully.

"History, especially anything related to Avery and other pirates…" he answered as Nate pulled up in front of the building. "Just in case, you know."

"Sure," said Sully with a nod.

"You know, besides books…push-ups…smoking…trying to stay out of fights between rival gangs…" he explained. "Just a whole lot of thinking. That's pretty much it."

Sully nodded and then glanced up at the building we had stopped by.

"Walls look pretty high," he commented to which Nate nodded.

"How about you use the bonnet of the car?" I suggested to which Nate raised an eyebrow at me and Sam just stared. Sully said nothing, but the smile on his face said he knew what I meant. "Oh um…sorry I mean the hood. That's it. Use the hood of the car to give you a boost."

Nate then just grinned.

"I knew what you meant," he said as he manoeuvred the car closer and hopped out and up onto the bonnet. "Not sure my brother did though."

Sam sighed and I smiled. He had only been up there a few minutes when an explosion rocked the surrounding countryside, but our fear was quelled as soon as Nate told us he was fine. More waiting. Then he reappeared with a grin on his face as he hopped down.

"Find much?" I asked.

"Not really," he replied. "Did find this though."

He handed me a beautiful flintlock pistol.

"Figured you might like a souvenir," he said as he started up the engine.

"Nice," I said with a smile. "Are you sure you don't want it?"

"Nope, I'm good," he said and I turned to the other two in the back.

"Sam? Sully?" I offered it out to them. Sully shook his head and Sam just looked at it. I smiled. "Here. It's yours if you want it, Sam."

For a moment he looked as if he would say yes and then he shook his head.

"You want to at least look at it?" I said, sure that some part of him did indeed want it. He began to ponder it when I just pushed it into his lap. "There you go. No need to thank me."

I then turned back and saw Nate give me a smile out of the corner of his eye as he set off again. We now headed round the other side of the pool and I took my chance to gaze up at the wonder of the Baobab trees. So beautiful with their great, fat trunks and small leaves. I was so lost in their beauty that when Sam spoke I jumped.

"Hey, is that a well?" asked Sam, making us all look in the same direction as him. Nate pulled up before what indeed appeared to be a well and got out. "Well, well, well."

Sam laughed at his own joke.

"Get it?" he continued, his left arm moving as he spoke. "You know, cause, it's a well."

"Sully, he stole your joke," said Nate with a look.

"I noticed," remarked Sully, glancing at Sam before adding with a smile. "Good sense of humour though."

I smiled and watched as Nate disappeared down into the ground. When he reappeared he took hold of the winch and asked me to get in the driving seat, which Sam made to object to, so Sully got out and took the wheel instead. Nate disappeared again and then his voice floated up from down below and Sully reversed the jeep until something gave. Nate reappeared once again after several minutes, like a meerkat out of its hole, but this time his hair and clothes were wet.

"Take a swim?" I queried.

He just grinned at me.

"So" asked Sully.

"Nothing major," replied Nate. "I'll show ya back at the hotel."

Off we went again, now driving up through the grasslands. There were some odd looking pillars up ahead and so we headed for them. As we did so, the jeep bounced up a rock and nasty crumbing sound reached our ears.

"Well, so much for that rock pile," commented Sam almost cheerfully.

"Technically, it's called a cairn," replied Nate.

"Yeah," said Sam. "I don't like to say that word. It just…sounds weird. Care…carin… Car- nope, nope I don't like it."

"Are you kidding me?" I said, turning in my seat to stare at him. "You cannot be serious."

"What?" he said with a shrug. "I don't like it."

"It's the correct word," I said.

"So?"

"So, you should use it," I argued.

"Nope," said Sam with a slight smile.

"Why?" I queried. "And don't say because you don't like it."

"I don't like it."

"But-" I tried.

"Nope," he interjected.

I curled my hands in frustration, oh I so wanted to strangle him and he knew it. Nate glanced at me, his look saying I would not win. I made a face before sucking my tongue through my teeth, to prevent me saying something I would regret, and taking a calming breath.

"Sam-"

"Nope."

"Fine then," I said, turning my back on him and folding my arms. "Be like that."

"Oh I will," he replied and I knew he was grinning oh so smugly about it.

Nate shook his head and then he paused as he seemed to remember something.

"Sam, if you had a guard doing you favours…" he began. "Why didn't you use him to get word to us?"

"Oh I tried," he replied as we headed between the two pillars and rounded a large rocky outcrop. "I asked him to mail a letter- to your P.O. box."

"I never got it," responded Nate.

"That would be because the warden saw it," explained Sam and some part of me could already see where this was going. "I got busted up pretty bad and never saw that guard again."

"Jesus," said Sully and he wasn't the only one thinking it as we now drove over the outcrop itself.

"I got my own back when the warden decided to room me with…" he paused, as if he was unsure that he wanted to divulge whatever he had been going to say.

I turned in my seat and looked at him. He met my eyes as if he was trying to read me.

"Sam?" queried Nate, glancing at him in the mirror.

I made a motion to put my fingers in my ears, but Sam shook his head.

"To room me with Alcázar," he continued, though he looked at me oddly when I didn't seem to give him the reaction he expected. I shrugged and turned back in my seat as my motion sickness began to nudge me. "That didn't turn out how he expected."

There was another one of the pillars ahead and we seemed to be steadily climbing, judging by the growing drop to my right. I sat pondering what I was learning. Sam had been in a terrible prison for a long time - judging by Sully's words in the hotel room and the fact he did not know what an MP3 player was - and he had been seemingly shot three times. He was in trouble now and my brain wondered if he had escaped rather then been let out. Though I was not about to judge him if he had, as from the sounds of it anyone would have attempted to escape such an awful place. Hmm, there was a lot to consider and I knew something was still missing, but for now, what I knew would have to do.

"You know, come to think of it…" started Sully as we approached the second, this time lone, pillar. "I actually dealt with Alcázar a few decades ago, even before I met you two."

"No shit?" exclaimed Sam as we passed the pillar and rounded the corner. "How are you still alive?"

"Well, he wasn't quite the man he is today," replied Sully as we reached a sort of fork with a tree in the middle. We headed left up the steeper incline to see if there might be something interesting up top. "Still working his way up the criminal ladder then. I sold his-"

A sudden explosion rocked the ground with tremors causing Nate to slam on the brakes.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sam.

We all turned in our seats and looked in the direction the explosion had come from. High on a ridge I could see a tower with smoke rising up behind it.

"Looks like Shoreline found something," said Sully as I tried to twist my head and wiggle my jaw in an effort to quell the ringing in my ears. "Go slow."

"You got it," said Nate as we crested the hill to find more ruins.

We drove slowly round the ruins and once more I made to grab Nate's arm, but too late.

"Shit!" exclaimed Nate as he demolished yet another cairn while he had been attempting to avoid a skeleton on the ground. "Hit another cairn."

"Rock pile!" corrected Sam quickly.

"Sorry, Sam. Right. Rock pile," said Nate while I just shook my head.

"Thank you," responded Sam to which I just sighed.

Nate continued around the ruins, pausing when on the far side I pointed out three lone crosses. He got out to have a look, but there seemed to be nothing distinct about them so we drove back down the way we had come.

"Victor, you were saying?" said Sam, reminding me that Sully had been telling us about his encounter with this Alcázar.

"Right," said Sully, getting his thoughts back on track. "I sold his boss a few woodcut prints I'd smuggled out of Japan. He was into shoguns and such. Alcázar was the go-between."

"What was he like?" asked Nate as he carefully negotiated our way down off the rocky path and onto the plains again.

"Soft spoken, but intense," he replied. "Like he could explode at the slightest provocation."

Sam laughed.

"Well," he said as we drove up to the left. "He hasn't changed much then has he?"

"I got my money and got the hell out of there," finished Sully.

This Alcázar sounded like a dangerous man and somewhere in the back of my mind, the name sounded familiar. Like I had heard it before, recently, but I could not place it. If Sam had been roomed with this guy and escaped, then clearly so had this man. Maybe he had something to do with the trouble Sam was in. I wanted to know more about this Alcázar, but before I could ask we rounded the corner to find another ruin that was already occupied.

"More Shoreline goons," whispered Sam as Nate brought the car to a halt.

The three crept out of the vehicle.

"Stay here," instructed Nate to which I nodded.

This time, I was staying in the car. They snuck round to the other side of the building and, using the cover of Shoreline's own vehicle, they started taking people out from the back. It did not seem to take that long, the last two enemies taken out by a well thrown grenade, and I was relieved when it all subsided. Sully waved to me, signalling all was clear and I went to join them.

We found another plunger box and this time Sam pushed it, blowing a hole in a small building off to the side. Yet unlike before there was no new sigil, just remnants of the place's previous occupants. So we moved on.

Leaving the ruins via a path to the left we dropped back down into the grasslands for now, seemingly leaving the tower we had seen till last. We headed north towards the area we had yet to explore and had earlier seen a Shoreline truck headed towards and found a sort of cave. The guys wondered if it was natural or manmade and agreed on that it was probably a bit of both. As we entered its cool darkness, I glanced about at the old wooden struts and planks that were seemingly there to prevent a cave in and wondered just how structurally sound they were. Assuming they had been there since the pirates' time, I somehow doubted they would pass a safety check. Above all though, I hoped they would not prove to be as _secure_ as the pirate's bridges had so far been.

Sam lent forward slightly in his seat and opened his mouth to say something, I assumed, when the tunnel ended and we rejoined the light. Before us was another ruin, a truck I recognised as one of the ones we had seen earlier and more armed men.

"More Shoreline idiots," grumbled Sully.

This time Nate just gave me a look and I nodded before slinking down slightly in my seat. I had a good vantage point and I felt safer staying where I was. They crept off along the top of the small ridge we had stopped upon, using the grass for cover, and started marking their targets. I watched them until they dropped down to my left and disappeared from view.

I watched the Shoreline men I could see. They were quiet heavily armed, but it was nothing the trio could not handle. I started to notice a few of them had already disappeared when there was a yell from a guy which was almost immediately cut off. I swore. The remaining men now seemed to notice a loss of their numbers and, guns raised, they began to search. I saw one man move swiftly to the truck and heave something out of the back of it causing my breath to catch. It was a grenade launcher. Another Shoreliner disappeared, but the man atop one of the ruins had spotted one of them, I assumed, as he started shooting wildly. The grenade launcher fellow now turned it in their direction, but to my relief he dropped into the grass as a bullet appeared to hit him. A few more shots and then silence.

"Think we're clear!" Nate called and I sat back up in the jeep.

Boom!

I jumped out my skin as Nate blew up a couple of explosive barrels and I cursed him for it as I bit the side of my mouth. I heard Sully say something about a pit and Sam responded with something that sounded like check it out, but with all these explosions my ears were aching. I saw Nate jump down into a hole, that I was pretty sure had not been there before, as my tongue licked the inside of my cheek and the taste of iron came to my notice.

After about five minutes I saw the other two move back from the hole as I could hear Nate beginning to climb back out, yet there was another sound that caught my attention. I raised myself up slightly and glanced around, my eyes traced the outline of the black truck and scanned the grass in front of it. There did not appear to be anything. Maybe it had been an animal I had heard, disturbed by the human presence. Then my eyes did a double take as it looked as if part of the ruin near the truck moved, but I was wrong. I now saw it was not the building or any native Madagascan animal, but a man. It was a Shoreliner and one I recognised. He stumbled to his feet, seemingly unnoticed by the three by the pit, and heaved up the bulky weapon I feared to point it at them.

Sam was helping Nate out as Sully turned with a chuckle and started to head back towards me. My heart pounded in my chest. I lunged at the rifle, but realised, as my fingers seized it, I would not have time to aim and shoot before the grenade launcher was fired. I had to do something, but what could I do. Nate had the keys.

I took a sharp in take of breath as I threw common sense out the window and slammed my fist into the horn. I pushed it wildly, causing not only the guys to look at me but grenade launcher man to swing round, his weapon pointed at me. I swore, ducking down in my seat, as if that would save me and forced myself to keep hitting the horn. Two shots fired. Silence.

I paused and nothing exploded. Slowly I sat up to find Sully and Sam lowering their guns as Nate dusted himself off. The grenade man was dead and I could stop hyperventilating. As they came up to join me Sully gave me a warm smile.

"Good spot, lass," he said, giving my shoulder a squeeze before climbing back in. "Quick thinking."

"Yeah," I replied, unable to say much more.

Nate gave me a grin and Sam just nodded. I sighed as the engine started and we drove down and round over some rock, near a big drop, before bumping down into a gully and heading back up towards the volcano.

All of us were quiet as the jeep bounced up through the rocky grasslands, but Sam decided to lighten the mood as he remembered, I guessed, what he had been going to say before the last encounter.

"So…" he started, leaning forward. "A pirate walks into a bar…"

"Oh great," remarked Sully, meeting my eyes as I glanced round at them. "Here we go."

"And he's got this steering wheel sticking out of his crotch," continued Sam, I shook my head, turning back, and already knowing this was going to be a boy's joke.

"Alright," nodded Sully.

"So the bartender goes, 'hey man, what's with the wheel?'" explained Sam and I could hear him already starting to laugh at his own joke by the way he spoke. "And the pirate says back, 'Arrrr! It's drivin' me nuts!'

Sam laughed before adding.

"Ahhhh I love that one."

"Don't make me leave you out here," replied Sully and that caused me to actually laugh.

Sam lent back in his seat and I turned to glance at him.

"I've heard worse," I said and he glanced at me with the slightest huff of what sounded like a laugh.

"Well, I've heard better," commented Sully and I smiled.

"Ah, but have you heard a better pirate joke?" I said, seeing Nate smile at me out of the corner of my eye. "You may have heard better jokes, but as pirate jokes are inherently cheesy, can you say you've heard a better one of those?"

Sully gave me a look.

"Hey, I thought you were on my side, lass," he said, feigning a look of hurt.

"Just saying," I replied before adding. "Because I'd feel sorry for the lemurs if you left Sam out here with them."

"Oooh, ouch!" said Sully chuckling while Nate tried unsuccessfully to hide his laughter.

Sam just rolled his eyes, crossed his arms and looked out at the scenery.

The silence resumed as we now headed up and around towards the tower, passing a couple more cairns on the way. Through another pair of pillars, we dropped off another rocky ledge and carefully drove round a rather narrow ridge with a decent drop before it opened out to reveal the tower we had seen.

"Check it out, boys and girl…" said Nate, nodding his head towards it.

"What is it…?" asked Sam and I could see it was a little different from the other ones we had seen: more narrow at the top and with an opening I could imagine someone sticking wood in and lighting as a beacon.

Nate pulled up beside it and got out, taking his notebook out as he did. He then began sketching the odd tower which perched on a raised platform of stone on the edge of the plateau-like rocky outcrop it was built upon. Sam and Sully, having got out too, headed past him and carefully climbed up the broken uneven steps of the stone platform.

"Holy shit," said Sam as he stood to the left of the tower, lent upon what was left of a wall and looked out to the north. "You can probably see all of King's Bay from up here."

Nate jogged up the steps to join the other two as I got out the car and walked just far enough forward to see the view.

"Yeah," concurred Sully. "Hey look, there's the city…"

"And there's the river valley…" added Sam.

I looked around in general and paused as I spotted a stone cairn sat atop a jutting out outcrop on the grass covered hill to my left. I glanced back at the other three. Sam and Nate were talking and Sully was looking at the view on the right side of the tower. I would still be in sight if I went and had a look at it.

So I carefully walked up the small incline and onto the rock. I knelt down in front of the cairn, looking closely at the stones and was impressed to see that nothing held the narrow little tower together. Each stone had been balanced carefully and I wondered how long it had taken to do them all.

"Hey guys, there's another tower just over the hill," called Nate, having climbed to the top of the tower.

"See any Shoreline mercs?" queried Sully.

"I can't tell," replied Nate, who then began to look for a way back down.

I stood up again and admired the view once more, enjoying this brief interlude of peace. I could see the land spread out before me much better from atop the rock. It was a beautiful sight.

As I stood looking out a sound caught my attention, causing me to turn and glance about. I felt a slight fear begin to rise as my imagination went to the possibility of some Shoreline folk sneaking up on me through the long grass like camouflaged commandos, but there was nothing, just the wind. I began to turn back when I heard another sound and this time I turned right around and warily scanned the grass. Then I saw it, movement and I tensed.

To my relief I saw flick of a long stripped tail and I smiled as I recognised the furry features of a ring-tailed lemur. I watched with fascination as it moved slowly and cautiously forward into the shadows cast by one of the trees, before picking something off the ground and nibbling it. Another appeared soon after, scampering down off the rocks to lightly run past the first before swinging round and plonking itself down. A third then dropped down from the branches of the tree the other two sat under and all three seemed to be merrily chomping on whatever they had found there.

I moved cautiously off the rock and into the long grass before dropping down onto my haunches and slowly moving forward, trying not to startle them. They had not seemed to notice me or if they did then they currently seemed unperturbed. I wished I had something to photograph them with, but my camera was at home in England and my phone and MP3 player in my bag in the car. I put my hands into my pockets to confirm it was as I thought, when my fingers brushed a paper bag and I remembered I had bought some dried fruit, nuts and the like at the market before we had rented the car. I took the bag out and removed a piece of fruit from it, but as I made to throw it to them there was more movement. A few more ring-tails emerged, one with a small fluffy youngster clinging to it, and then something I had not expected to see appeared. It carefully bounced from the rocks into the low branches of the tree before cautiously descending. Its large yellow eyes shone out from its little black face and its tuft like white ears quivered while the wind ruffled its characteristic ruff. I could not believe what I was seeing. A lone black and white Ruffed lemur, a wild one.

I glanced at the food in my hand; I knew I probably should not be thinking of feeding them it, but then we should not be hunting for pirate treasure and we were. I sighed and concluded I would do it just this once. Taking a breath, I risked throwing it. It landed near them and, as I had feared, they all bolted, leaping away. The Ruff running the furthest. Yet they did not go as far as I had feared. They carefully came back and sniffed the item before tasting it. They seemed to approve so I threw another bit and another after that, each time a little closer to me. They slowly seemed to catch on that it was not a threat and started getting bolder. The ruff was less inclined to come close, but the ring-tails were less fussed and so I risked leaning forward, ensuring I did not make direct eye contact, and offering a piece of fruit to the bolder lemurs.

Painstakingly slowly they edged forward and I could feel my heartbeat rise in anticipation of it taking the fruit from me. I found myself holding my breath as one ring-tail, having now got within reaching distance, slowly began to stretch out a paw. Somewhere in the background I heard something that sounded like voices and banging, maybe someone calling, but I ignored it.

"Come on little one," I encouraged quietly. "I know you want it, come on, just a little closer."

The tips of its clawed toes touched the fruit.

"That's it," I said, smiling. "Go on, take it. It's yours."

The lemur paused as the rest of the group all stuck their heads up and looked at something.

"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you," I tried gently, though I could see already I was losing them. "Everything's fine, you can take it."

There was a sound then, like someone clearing their throat and the moment was lost as the lemurs bolted, never to return. I felt a spike of frustration, but there was nothing I could do. With a sigh I got to my feet and turned slowly only to stop as I found Sam stood less then a metre from me, glaring at me in silence.

"Hey!" called a voice I knew was Nate's. He was coming up the slope with Sully just behind him. "There you are. Did you not hear us calling?"

When I did not answer, he glanced between me and Sam; sensing something was off.

"Sam?" he questioned.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Sam slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, and for a moment I was sure I saw something that resembled disappointment.

"I wasn't talking to anyone," I replied, giving him a slightly confused look.

"Yes you were," he continued. "I heard you. Telling them everything is fine and it's theirs."

I saw Nate and Sully give me slight quizzical looks.

"No…that was…"

"See, she admits it," he said, not taking his eyes from me.

"I'm not sure that would be counted as admissible evidence in a court," commented Sully, but Sam ignored him, his eyes moving between my own and my hands.

Sam took a step closer and I just felt a slight tinge of fear at his look.

"Give it to me," he growled.

"What?" I questioned, suddenly confused.

"Give it to me now."

"Sam!" said Nate, trying to calm the situation.

"Stay out of this, Nathan," replied Sam before suddenly taking hold of my left arm with his right hand and holding out his left expectantly.

"Get off me," I said, trying to release myself from his grip. "I don't know what you want."

"Your phone. I know you've got it, give me it!" he snapped.

"I haven't got it!" I snapped back and that only made him angrier.

"Stop lying!" he snarled, pulling me close. "Just make this easier and give me your damn phone!"

Nate, believing it had gone far enough, now intervened and the struggle ended in me falling backwards to the ground as Sam lost his grip on my arm and I stumbled. Silence ensued for a mere moment as the three men stared at me and I stared at them. Nate made a move to help me up, but I shook my head and got to my own feet. I dusted myself off, my wrist aching where I had fallen on it, but nothing appeared broken. I took a breath and glared at Sam and then, completely out of character for me, I walked right up to him and slapped him hard across the face. I had never slapped anyone in my life. He staggered back, his hand moving to his cheek, and as he did so, I threw the piece of fruit I still clutched in my right hand at him.

"It was fruit, you idiot!" I snapped, now angry. "Not my phone. If you'd bothered to check in my bag, that's in the car, you would have found I left it there."

I saw him seem to recover enough from his shock to open his mouth, but before he could counter I continued.

"I was talking to the lemurs, not a person. The lemurs that you all frightened off!"

Sam looked as if he was about to try speaking again.

"And before you make some witty quip, yes, I talk to animals. I find they are a little less judging then my present company."

They all stood in silence for a moment, seemingly lost for words.

"Come on, let's just go," I said with a sigh as I headed back towards the car. "The sooner we put an end to all this madness, the sooner I can go home."

As I approached the car, Nate made to apologise for his brother, but I'd had enough of him too.

"Oh no you don't!" I snapped, stopping Nate in his tracks. "Don't you apologise for Sam when you're just as bad in your own way! Not telling Elena the truth, lying to her. This is Elena we're talking about. She's smart, resourceful, not to mention a journalist and you think she's not going to find out what you're doing. You mark my words, she _will_ find out and then there will be all hell to pay."

I caught the look of hurt that flashed across Nate's face and I sighed. Then with a shake of my head and with wave of 'whatever, do as you like', I got in the front seat and ignored them all.

* * *

There we go. So what did we think of that? Did we all enjoy it? You can always tell me by pressing the review button and making my weekend/day/week. :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thank you to Iamimanim, whitephoenix18, Guest and Neon Jack for you reviews. It makes me so happy. **To** **Iamimanim** , I agree, it was about time that she did something. **To** **whitephoenix18** , it's nice to see you back and thank you, I hope you enjoy this one. **To Guest** , whoever you may be, I update on Saturdays and if for some reason I can't, I'll tell you all here when I will be updating. Hope you enjoy this one. **To Neon Jack** , yep Sam deserved what he got, I'm glad you're still enjoying it even though it's not really your type of story. I hope you like this chapter.

Ok, so onto the next chapter. Guess what...we have more UC4 dialogue, hehe. So without further ado...read on and enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

They got in the car and not one of them said a word. The engine started and Nate continued along the narrow ridge which veered away from the drop and back to safe ground. The mud did not let up though and as we came round a corner and up and over a small rocky incline, the very tower Nate had mentioned came into view along with the fact that no Shoreliners could be seen.

"Well, it would appear we got here first," said Nate as we approached the tower and small group of ruined buildings next to it.

"Let's, uh, check the place out and keep moving," replied Sam, a hint of what sounded almost like nervousness in his voice.

Yet as we came past the first small building I noticed, along with Nate, that the other buildings were on the other side of what looked like a large gap, which I suspected had a very long drop.

"Drawbridge?" murmured Nate, drawing my attention to both the fact he was right and the fact it was shut from the other side. "How…medieval."

"Well, you don't put up a drawbridge unless you're trying to keep people out…" commented Sully as Nate stopped the car and got out, heading for the tower.

"Or protect something inside," added Sam, his mind clearly back on the treasure.

Sam and Sully also got out, but I chose to remain in the car. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam pause and then glance at Sully, who clearly indicated with his head he should go after Nate while Sully remained near by.

I sighed and after a few minutes, I got out; noting that Sully glanced my way. The brothers had clearly found something as, from what I could see, they were crouched down studying the floor of the tower. I slowly walked towards the gap which did indeed have a lovely drop that made a shiver run though my body at the thought of falling down it, but it was not as bad as I had imagined and there was a river at the bottom.

"I'm gonna go check out that drawbridge," I heard Sam call to one of the others.

Nate replied with something I did not catch making me turn and notice Sully, concluding I did not want to talk and seemingly satisfied I was not going to jump down the gap, had gone over to the tower. The very tower to my growing concern Nate was now climbing up.

"Hey, be careful, kid," called Sully, voicing my thoughts, as he and I now watched Nate climb.

"Hey Nathan, the stairs are busted," called Sam, now drawing my attention to the fact he had somehow jumped over the gap and made his way up onto the building that I guess would have been called the gatehouse. I was so glad I'd not seen him jump across or I would have worried about that too. "There's no way up to the drawbridge crank."

"All right," replied Nate. "I'll see if there's something up here!"

His climbing was getting more and more perilous and on some bits my heart was in my mouth, especially when I heard him exclaim over the sound of some splintering wood and crumbling masonry. He was nearing the top and I was desperate for him to reach some safer ground when he called out to us.

"Hey guys, there's a massive tower just past the drawbridge. Biggest one yet."

 _Great_ , I thought, as he now stood on top of the structure next to a large crate while looking out, _now can he come down?_

"Sam!" he yelled, now looking as if he was preparing to shove the crate off which I realised appeared to be attached to a long line that crossed the chasm and ended near where Sam was. "Special delivery!"

Yet as he pushed it, the boards he was stood upon broke leaving him hanging for dear life onto the crate itself. He was yelling as it slid down the line and Sam ran for cover as the crate and Nate crashed down where he had been stood minutes before.

"Hey kid, you all right?" called Sully as I stared in shock at the cloud of dust that rose from where he had crashed.

"I'm fine!" called Nate to mine and I'm sure Sully's relief.

I took a calming breath and moved back towards the car. As I got in I saw that Sam was making his way back over as Sully called out that he would bring the car closer. Sully gave me a slight smile as he got in beside me, as if he was testing the waters to see if I was still angry, but I chose to return the gesture a little and he nodded. The engine came to life once more and Sully carefully manoeuvred the car into line with the drawbridge. Sam met us at the car and Sully got out and stood by him while we waited for Nate to release the bridge.

"You three just relax, I got this," called Nate as he began to turn the heavy looking crank wheel, sarcasm evident in his words.

"I mean, there's only one crank…you know?" replied Sam, unknowingly returning a slight smile to my face and Sully laughed.

Yet something distracted me and I turned in my seat looking for the cause of my distraction.

"Keep up the good work, kid," said Sully while, unbeknown to me, glancing at me and causing both him and Sam to look in the direction I was looking in.

That's when I realised what had distracted me, as the rumbling sound became clear and a horribly familiar truck came into view as it crested the same rocky incline we had come over.

"Stop, stop!" yelled Sully as he grabbed my arm with the intention of pulling me along with him. "Shoreline is coming!"

"Nathan!" yelled Sam, waving his arms at his brother as I got out, grabbing my rifle as I did. "Shoreline!"

The truck was coming down the slope as Nate yelled.

"Guys! Hide!"

We ran towards the waste high grass near the tower and I thought that's where we would stay, but then Sully pulled me on saying we had to get to Nate. It was then I realised, as I watched Sam leap over a more narrow point of the chasm, that I too was expected to jump it. My fear made me stop and I knew Sully knew I was afraid, but we did not have time for me to stop. Sam turned to see what was the hold up and quickly came back to edge.

"Come on!" he whispered frantically. "It's fine, I'll catch you."

"Go!" encouraged Sully and taking a breath I flung myself across.

I only realised I'd shut my eyes when I felt strong arms grab me and pull me into the safety of their owner's stale cigarette and slightly sweaty embrace, before shoving me gently into the cool shade of a building where I consequently, ungracefully, tripped over a step I did not see. Sully joined us and we quickly made our way through to the back of the building to meet up with Nate who dropped down from the gate house building. Nate put his finger to his lips and we took up positions so that we could see the Shoreline men and they could not see us.

"Rental car - it must be theirs," said one of the men, indicating to our jeep.

"Form a grid!" another commanded. "I want them found."

"No warning shots," ordered a third. "You see them, you take 'em down."

The men then began to spread out and Nate directed us to move so we could see them better. A couple of them climbed up onto the base of the tower.

"Come out, come out!" one called. "I promise to make it quick for ya."

One risked crossing the chasm, taking a position in the foundations of a small ruin near the cliff edge. Nate ducked into the grass and Sam followed while Sully and I watched.

"Careful," called one of the ones by the tower to the man who had crossed the chasm. "Lots of hiding places round here."

He then jumped across at another point along the chasm that I now noticed was the ruins of another bridge, this one made of stone, that crossed the drop and though broken was less of a jump then the one I'd made. I wished we had crossed there, but it was done and I was still alive so I said nothing.

Nate got steadily closer in the long grass to the nearer man, once again like a stalking tiger, and waited along with Sam for the right opportunity. He then crept out of the grass, round the edge of the ruin and grabbed the man from behind silencing him quickly. He then made for the man stood on what was left of the bridge and, to my surprise, kicked him off into the chasm before jumping across to the base of the tower. Finally he climbed up onto the base and took out a look out there before beckoning to Sam to follow. Sully and I watched the two disappear and I have to say I was glad that he stayed with me.

We waited for the other two quietly, ready if needed, but it soon became apparent that we were not alone. I heard a noise and pulled Sully down into the long grass as a movement to my left caught my eye. Another Shoreliner had come across and he was making his way up towards us and he was not alone. Upon moving Sully had spotted there was a man up top now as well as the man approaching and if we did not time it right, then we would be seen. Sully gave my hand a reassuring squeeze as we watched him approach, one that said we've got this, and it somehow made me feel a bit more confident. We waited for the precise moment and then, like a ninja, Sully grabbed him and pulled him back into the long grass, like a crocodile, before silencing him. I waited, my breath held, half expecting someone to have seen us, but it appeared we were successful. Sully gave me a grin and we moved back through the grass to the clear area just as Sam and Nate reappeared.

"Okay, we're clear this end," said Nate quietly. "We need to go down the back and take out the rest."

"There's at least one, maybe two, up top as well," said Sully.

"I'll deal with them," replied Sam. "You and Nathan go down the other end."

"You sure?" asked Nate, glancing at his brother.

Sam nodded.

"Right," he said before turning to me. "Are you happy to stay here?"

I nodded even though I felt a little uneasy. Nate gave me a small smile and I smiled back, making his smile broaden. Then they split: Nate and Sully moving quickly off through the long grass while Sam made his way along the wall, positioning himself below where we had said the man had been. I watched him scale up it and hang just off the edge, waiting for his prey to come to him. I knew he had achieved his goal when there was a stumbling sound followed by a sickening thud. I assume he then continued up onto the roof, but I was distracted by another sound. I ducked into the grass and crept along the outside wall of the building that lay on the right side of the gatehouse. My breath caught as I spotted a second truck arriving and more men getting out. This was bad.

The men began to move out, some joining those still alive from the first truck down the opposite end from me. I worried whether the others could handle these ones as well and I also worried they might come up here and find me. Yet as I watched, a sniper from the first group seemed to pause and spot something. He made a gesture to one of his fellows and he came over to look as well. The second man then jogged down the steps of the ruin they had been stood upon and got a man from the second group to come to the edge of the chasm and look. It was only then I noticed this man from the second group had a grenade launcher and I feared that what they had seen was likely Sully or Nate. They clearly were not sure if they had seen anything, but appeared to be coming to the rapid conclusion that it could not hurt to fire the grenade launcher into the area.

I moved back from the corner of the building and pressed my back into the stone wall, trying to stay calm. I could in theory use the sniper rifle to take the man out, but then that would draw attention to me and at least one man I had seen had now reached the base of the tower. He would certainly spot me. Yet I concluded if they killed the others then I was dead anyway; there would be no way I'd escape these men alive without the other three. It seemed while there was a likelihood of death either way, it was less of a certainty if I risked my life now. Having reached that conclusion, I loaded the rifle and taking a breath, stood up, lent around the corner and lined up the shot as best as I could. I caught movement out the corner of my eye over by the tower, but I could already see the man had the grenade launcher ready and pointing. It was now or never.

"Hey!" I yelled as a shout went up, causing the man to move forward a little and look in my direction which had been my aim and I pulled the trigger. He stumbled forward, tumbling into the chasm as he fired and the boom rocked the area. Bullets pinged off the stonework beside me and further gunfire could be heard as I aimed again, somehow successfully taking out the sniper too. Then I threw myself into the grass and kept moving at a low crouch only to hear a funny noise that I knew could not be good. I leapt up out of the grass and crashed through what was once a window, but I was propelled even further forward as something exploded near by, a grenade I think.

I lay on the floor, my ears ringing and the wind knocked out of me. As I slowly tried to get to my feet, something moved near the window and I fired the rifle blindly in that direction before stumbling around to try and find some sort of cover. There was stone dust everywhere and every time I tried to breathe, I ended up coughing violently causing my throat to sting and tears to come to my eyes. I grabbed onto the side of the doorway that led out to the back of the building only to be punched back inside. The shock of the action caused me to loose my footing and crash to floor whereupon my attacker yanked me back up and grabbed me around my throat from behind. I fought desperately to try and get free, but my assailant was stronger and knew what he was doing. I could feel the blood drain from my ears and my vision grew rapidly dark as I struggled for air…then nothing.

Suddenly there were images, was I dreaming? I did not remember going to bed. The images then began to race as my brain concluded I had not been asleep and therefore I should not be where I was and forced me to wake up. My eyes shot open. I found myself lying on the cold and dusty stone floor. My skin felt cool and clammy, had I fainted I wondered, but as I took in a shaky breath I found my throat ached. I tried to stay calm as I remembered what had happened. As I remembered I was not alone.

My hearing brought to my attention that a struggle was going on somewhere beyond my feet, near to the doorway I had tried to exit through. I tried to make my eyes see what was going on properly through the dust that still filled the air, but my breathing took precedence as I could not stop coughing and that only made my throat ache more. Finally I got it under control enough that, through my tears, I could see two people fighting. I stuck my left hand out to start getting to my feet when my fingers brushed something metal and I found there was a hand gun abandoned beside me. I wrapped my fingers around it as I tried to get up and failed, only to see a shadow appear in the doorway. The figure had a funny shaped head and raised something towards the struggling people where one had appeared to have got the upper hand. I did not like the way the figure made me feel so I raised the gun I'd found and rapidly pulled the trigger. The figure crumpled and one of the two fighting now crashed to the floor leaving the other standing, but panting. I turned the gun to them.

"Whoa! Easy now," said a voice who's accent immediately made me lower the weapon.

Sam came and eased the pistol out of my fingers before looking me over.

"Are you okay?" he asked me and I opened my mouth to speak only to find my voice sounded wrong, so instead I just nodded. Picking up my rifle, he then slowly helped me to my feet and waited until I was steady before we moved to the doorway. The figure I had shot lay just beyond, his red baseball cap sticking out at an odd angle from his head. I averted my eyes and let Sam guide me away.

It was quiet now and a movement made Sam and I tense, but it was only Sully and Nate.

"Are you two all right?" asked Nate as he looked us both over.

Sam nodded and then glanced at me as I slowly moved away so I was supporting myself.

"Lass?" queried the concerned voice of Sully as he moved in my direction.

I nodded and made a motion with my hand.

"Fine," I gasped which only seemed to concern them all more.

I then made an indication I was headed back to the car, though whether they understood it or not, I was not sure. Sully made to go with me before pausing and turning to the brothers who appeared to be talking.

"Hey, Nate! Let's go before more Shorelines show up!"

Nate nodded and with a nod to Sam he made to climb up onto the gatehouse again, while Sam came to join us. They helped me across the chasm again and I was more then glad to get back to the car. Yet to Sully's confusion, I just climbed in the back seat causing both Sam and Sully to stop. They looked at me and then deciding to just let me do as I wished, they got in.

Nate began winding the crank wheel again which slowly lowered the bridge to a point, before giving in and dropping the bridge down with a bang causing a cloud of dusty dirt to arise. He then crossed back over, jumped into the driver's seat and we were off once more.

Across the bridge, through some wooden crates and up a muddy incline, the tower he had mentioned before the gun fight now came into view.

"Big tower on a volcano," remarked Nate as we all looked at it.

"Looks like the end's in sight, huh?" said Sam.

We drove along a grassy slope, past a tree and onto another narrow rocky cliff edge. I spotted another lone cairn and wondered if it was the last one. I turned my eyes away from the views and the scenery and instead stared at my knees.

"Y'know, not to nit-pick," started Sam. "But Avery spent all that money on towers, would it have killed him to put a guard rail up here?"

My green walking trousers were covered in pale chalk like dust, my skin for once looking darker then something as my hands rested upon them. The car jerked as Nate turned up hill, away from the edge, and Sam's knee bumped mine lightly. His greenish grey trousers where also dusty. My eyes moved to his right hand that was resting on his knee and my gaze was drawn to where the skin had broken on his knuckles. It looked uncomfortable and I wondered if he had got the light wounds from saving me. I felt his eyes turn to me and I glanced away as the ground suddenly dropped from beneath us. I gripped the side as we landed and rolled to a stop in another larger muddy pool of water before yet another large muddy slope. Nate got out and so did I, not enjoying the squelch as my boots landed in the sloppy mud and water. I stood on tiptoes and tried to not get the stuff in my boots as I made my way to a bit of higher ground. Nate, meanwhile, had gone up the steps and now came jogging back down, moving to the front of the vehicle to grab, I assumed, the winch.

"You okay?" called Sully to me.

"I'm fine," I responded. "Just need a moment on some stable ground."

I felt a little sick and so I aimed to calm myself by just walking around a bit.

"Okay," he replied before turning in his seat to Sam. "So, just how much do you owe Alcázar?"

My curiosity turned on then. So Sam owed him money, maybe protection money?

"Uh…half."

"Half of what?"

"Well, he only knows about the Gunsway heist…"

"Which is worth four hundred million."

"Right, but if Nathan's theory is correct, then there's a lot more treasure at play."

"Well, you shoulda told him it was…two hundred thousand. You never tell your partners how much a job is really worth."

"Wasn't exactly expecting to be 'partners' with him."

"Guys," said Nate, coming back down the steps. "We're going to find it, pay off that lunatic and still have plenty to spare. Trust me."

He jumped back in the car.

"We're all set," he said before turning in his seat and looking my direction. "Um…are you coming?"

I looked at him, then the hill, then the steps and with a sigh shook my head.

"I think I'm going to just walk up the steps if that's alright?"

"Okay, if you're sure?" he responded as Sam now moved into the seat behind Sully, clearly preferring that side.

"Yep," I said, making my way gingerly to the stairs and slowly beginning to walk up them.

"Here we go…" I heard Nate say.

I heard the engine start and the winch begin to reel in. I was staring at my feet as I climbed to ensure I would not trip, but every now and again I looked up. It was as I did the second time, that my eyes finally registered the large boulder that was sat near the top of the slope. It looked to be in the jeep's path and even more concerning: the winch line was lent upon it. My brain began to race as it worked out that the weight of the car would likely move the boulder on this soft mud, meaning a loss of tension and the likelihood of…

I swung round.

"Nate, stop!" I called. "The boulder, what about the boulder!"

I saw him squint at me, it appeared he could not hear me over the winch, the engine and the spray of the mud.

"What?!" he yelled.

"Boulder!" I responded, pointing at it.

"What? Look we'll be with you…"

Then I heard a noise and I saw, to my horror, the boulder move. It rolled towards the edge and the car went with it.

"Oh, shit!" yelled Sully.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…!" yelled Sam.

"Guys!" I screamed as I watched the jeep go over the cliff edge and drop out of sight. The winch cable made a violent straining noise as I legged it up the steps, tripping once and continuing. The tree it was wrapped around held though and so did the cable it seemed. I ran to the edge and looked down to see the guys all still there and the jeep desperately trying to climb back up. I could hear their panic filled voices and I wanted to help them, but there was nothing I could do.

"That cable's gonna snap-!" I heard Sam say.

"Nate…?" That was Sully.

The cable was straining against the cliff side loosening rocks and I had to get back from the edge so I would not fall.

"Hit the gas! Pull us up!" yelled Sam.

"Guys not too fast!" I tried yelling down to them, not sure if they could hear me. I was as close to the edge as I dared. "You'll only dislodge…"

My breath caught as a huge chunk of rock broke away, dropping down towards them. It smashed into the jeep, the winch losing tension, and the car fell down and down before coming to a nasty jolting stop as the cable halted the fall again. Yet though it saved them, the jolt knocked Nate from his seat and, to my horror, out of the car.

"Nathan!" Sam yelled as he lunged, catching hold of his brother at the last minute. "I gotcha!"

"Hold on tight, kid!" called Sully.

"I gotcha," repeated Sam as he tried to pull Nate up with one hand, the other gripping the central bar of the jeep.

Nate grabbed onto the side of the jeep and began to quickly climb back up to his seat.

"C'mon, c'mon!" Sam encouraged, a hint of desperation in his tone.

After what felt like an age, finally Nate was back in the driving seat.

"You okay?" Sully asked, helping him in.

"I've been better," Nate replied and now I really needed them to get back up here.

"Get us out of this, kid!" yelled Sully as the cable made more uncomfortable straining noises.

"All right, hang on!" responded Nate.

I watched as they painstakingly made their way up and somewhere between the creaking winch and the dodgy noise the tires were making, I could have sworn I heard Sam praying, which seemed appropriate due to the situation, but from what I knew of him it did not seem to fit his character. Up they came, the winch miraculously holding, so maybe the praying did help.

"Come on guys!" I called encouragingly. "You're so close!"

The nose of the jeep crested the side and then the bonnet and the front wheels and finally the back wheels and the relief was palpable.

"Ah…well, that was fun, right?" said Nate and I glared at him, I felt I was not the only one.

"Yeah?" replied Sully. "Well, I'm definitely sharing this one with my shrink."

Sam laughed and I could not help but crack a smile.

"Wait, you have a shrink?" queried Sam, disbelief in his voice.

"No…but I will after this," replied Sully and I laughed at that.

"Come on, you guys are over-reacting," said Nate as he now unhooked the winch. "I had the whole thing under control."

I sniggered and shook my head. Nate looked at me as he jumped back in the car.

"So what were you saying?" he asked, ignoring my laughter, as Sully now got out and made to get in the back, Sam moving over once more. I looked at him, confused. "Before we…uh…"

He pointed to the edge.

"Oh," I said, cottoning on. "I was saying watch out for the boulder."

"Oh," was all he said and I tried not to smirk as I saw Sully and even Sam crack a smile.

There was a slight pause and then Nate added.

"Shall we get going then?"

"Can we not just have a breather for a few moments?" I asked, still able to feel the adrenalin pumping.

Nate glanced around the others.

"Five minutes?" he queried.

Sam shrugged and Sully nodded.

"Right, five minutes then," he agreed.

I really enjoyed those five minutes. We all stretched our legs, took in the view and of course avoided the edge. I found myself cautiously approaching the next part of where we were going: a rather unsafe looking wooden bridge. I put my foot on it and tested my weight. To my surprise it did not even creek. I took a few more steps, each one I was prepared to leap for safety if it came to it. As I continued, however, I began to notice something odd. The far side of the bridge appeared to be lower then the side I was on and then it came to my attention that the reason for this was because it was broken.

"Ah," said Nate's voice as he came up behind me. "It'll be fine."

"Fine?" I said a little incredulously.

"Yeah, it'll hold."

"Yeah…because all the others have done that," I replied as sarcastically as I could.

"Come along," he said, indicating we should head back to the car.

I took one last look at the bridge and felt maybe I should take up praying too.

* * *

There we go. What did we make of that? I hope you all enjoyed it. As always, I would love to hear what you think so if you would kindly press that review button then you can tell me! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, they brighten my day. To you both thank you and here is the next chapter.

So on with our story. There is even more UC4 dialogue as always. I hope you all enjoy this one and have a good Easter if you are celebrating it. Now, without further ado, read on dear readers, read on...

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Nate lined the car up with the bridge and revved the engine a little. I gripped the side and my seat belt. This was crazy, but the tower was just on the other side. I took a breath as he accelerated onto the bridge.

"Hold onto something!" called Nate and I so wanted to shut my eyes.

The car ramped off the end and my stomach churned as we flew through empty space to land on the other half, which of course gave.

"Ah, ha, ha…!" cried Sam.

Yet it only gave a little and somehow held for us to get across onto firm ground and come to a stop before a lot of steps, that led to a raised stone platform on which the tower stood.

"Ah…well, that was a nice change of pace," remarked Nate to which I gave him a sideways glance.

"Yeah, I'm almost disappointed…almost," replied Sam casually.

We got out and looked up at the tower.

"Now…let's find our way in," said Nate, setting off up the steps.

"Let's go claim our treasure, boys!" said Sam, following after before pausing and with a quick glance at me adding. "And girl, of course."

"Whatever," I replied, climbing up onto the steps and offering my hand to Sully who waved it away. "I don't want any of it."

"Uh huh," replied Sam and I shook my head.

As we reached the top though, it immediately became apparent the entrance into the tower was blocked.

"Hm. Can't get in that way," commented Nate.

The three then began to search around the base of the tower to see if there was another way in. I sat down on the edge of the platform, the wind blowing strands of my hair into my face, and swung my legs, letting the heels of my walking boots bounce off the rock. I then sighed and got to my feet.

"What about this?" I asked, pointing to a little building with a big door that was shut.

Nate came over and shoved against it, it would not budge.

"Sam, gimme a hand with this," he said as Sam and Sully came to join us.

"Yeah," Sam replied as the two got into position.

Together they shoved against it till it broke open, causing the two to stumble inside. Sully and I followed. Turning on our torches, we went down a few old steps before carefully dropping down onto some broken wooden planks that lay in a short, shadow filled passageway. The dust was noticeable as we made our way into the room beyond and I tried not to breath too much in.

"Let's see what we got here…" said Nate as he shone his torch around what looked to me to be an old cellar.

The room contained a number of free standing shelving units, some which still held items covered in years of dust, as well as various boxes, barrels and containers suggesting it had probably been some sort of store room. There was also strange looking large wooden structure near the doorway that had a chute coming out the far end, below which was a worrying amount of small reddish coloured little kegs. If video games had taught me anything, they probably contained some sort of explosive.

I sighed. "Looks like a dead end."

"Maybe not," replied Nate as he headed over to one shelving unit that had a hole in the back which I thought I could see a little light coming through. He moved to the side of it and smiled. "Huh. Looks like there's something back here. Sam…?"

Sam jogged over to him. "Yeah, let's do this."

Together they pushed the unit out the way to reveal a doorway that had been blocked up, but a small section had crumbled away allowing light from the other side to get through.

"Damn, it's bricked over," said Sam, frustration evident in his tone.

Yet Nate seemed undefeated and I soon knew why as he headed over to where I had seen the little red kegs.

"Hey, hey, hey, careful with that thing, kid," said Sully as Nate picked a keg up and carried it over to the blocked entrance and placed it carefully down. We took cover behind a large and solid looking table like crate that was in the middle of the room and I hoped that it was as sturdy as it looked.

"Heads up!" called Nate as he aimed his gun at the keg and I stuck my fingers in my ears.

It barely made a difference, the sound and force of the explosion causing my body to involuntarily jump. I was so over explosions.

"Ah! Jesus," exclaimed Sam, who appeared to have also jumped slightly at the explosion, consequently making me feel a little better about my own reaction.

"I said heads up," replied Nate, sounding a little hurt before heading towards the newly opened doorway.

It led to another passageway with some steps and a flight of stairs that led up to a large metal gate. Nate moved to the wheel that stuck out of the wall and began to wind it, the gate slowly rising like a portcullis with every turn. Yet before it was even half way, Sam had pushed past me and was under the gate and into the next room.

"Hurry up, you three!" he called, indicating us to come with his hand while jogging sideways before swinging round and taking off down some stairs, reminding me of an over excited child desperate for his parents to come and see something, but finding they are taking too long to do so.

"And he's off," said Sully as Sam disappeared from sight.

"Sam, wait up!" called Nate, reminding me of said parent trying to maintain some sort of control on their exuberant offspring.

"Come on!" came Sam's reply from what sounded like somewhere quite far ahead.

Nate had finished raising the gate and we followed after Sam into the room and down the winding steps. It got darker as we went down and upon reaching the bottom, I could just make out the silhouette of Sam up ahead.

"Nathan, Victor, Freya! This way!"

Then he was off again, disappearing down more steps I assumed.

"He seems excited," commented Sully as we followed at a little more leisurely pace after him.

"He's got a lot riding on this," replied Nate.

Down another fight of stairs we reached the bottom where it looked like the ground beneath the passageway before us had been pushed up by some geological fault, or there had been a cave in or something. We climbed up a rocky ledge and made our way carefully up a muddy slope, trying not to trip over chunks of what might have once been flooring or ceiling. Ducking our heads, so as not to hit them on the now low ceiling, we took a few steps forward only for Nate to suddenly slip and slide down a muddy slope that was the other side of the one we had come up. I tried in vein to catch myself, but failed and slipped down after him, narrowly avoiding kicking him as he got to his feet. He brushed himself off and offered me a hand up which I took, giving him a look that I said 'I was not amused' to which he just shrugged and gave me a pat on the back. I rolled my eyes and attempted to clean myself up as Sully carefully slid down to join us.

Sam was just ahead, squeezing through a narrow gap that had been created as a result of what appeared to be a definite cave in and a dodgy looking piece of wall that was still standing, despite the large rock that was leaning on it from above. I was less then happy to squeeze through it knowing what the result would be if the wall gave way, but Nate and Sully gave me little choice but to go and squeeze through it.

"Whoa," commented Nate as he led Sully and I out into what was on the other side of the squeeze.

"Magnificent," concurred Sully.

I nodded glancing around at amazing sight - a huge, round room of several levels with stone pillars and carvings and a huge decorated domed ceiling which had sadly been damaged, leaving big gaping holes that revealed the sky. Yet somehow, amazingly, the great chandelier, that would have once bathed the place in warm candle light, had still managed to remain suspended high above us.

"Don't see a treasure though," continued Sully and he was right.

As magnificent as the place was it was empty of gold.

"Hey, guys…?" called Sam from where he stood on the other side of the room before what looked to be a stone carving of a guy being crucified.

"Coming!" replied Nate as he led the three of us over to his brother.

As we climbed up onto the slightly raised platform I realised the figure was in front of a carved image which I found my eyes immediately drawn to.

"Come check this out," said Sam, pointing to the figure and the image.

"Ah, Saint Dismas…" started Nate, observing the statue. "We meet again."

"So…" said Sully. "What do we got?"

"More sigils," replied Nate, now looking at the image that I was glancing over. "There's our boy Avery. Thomas Tew. And that's, um…"

"That's Adam Baldridge," explained Sam, pointing to the sigil that Nate had been trying to identify, a skeleton and a devil. "That's uh, Joseph Farrell, and that's Richard Want."

Farrell's was the trident and Want's was a pair of dolphins, yet my attention was for some reason drawn to the trident sigil and the one to the left of it, the one that was a set of scales.

"Hm," responded Nate before tapping his brother's arm. "Pirate captains."

"All right, so maybe your pirate pool theory wasn't so ridiculous after all," said Sam as the two continued to study the image.

"All right, so uh…" continued Nate as I ran my fingers over the stone sigils. "Let's see, what do you think the trick is here?"

He moved, placing his hands on the statue and I stepped back, in case something happened, to stand by Sully.

"You gotta push a button, pull something?" said Nate, running his hands over the statue.

"Maybe…" replied Sam as he took a step back before moving to take hold of the statue's right arm. "Maybe one of the arms, or…?"

"Give it a shot," replied Nate as Sam pulled its arm, but nothing appeared to be happening.

My eyes wondered again to the image, something about it drew me in, and Sully followed my gaze.

"C'mon…" grumbled Sam, still trying.

"Boys," started Sully, causing Sam to turn and look at us. "Whenever you're done fondling poor Saint Dismas," as Nate also turned, Sully pointed to the map, "I think you might want to come take a look at this."

They moved back to join us as I glanced at Sully and he winked at me.

"The trapezoid is obviously the volcano. The crown, that's King's Bay," explained Sully as the two caught on and I came to understand the reason I was drawn to it. Sully glanced between the brothers. "We've got ourselves a map, gentlemen and lass."

"Victor, you're a goddamn genius," said Sam and I smiled.

"You hear that, Nate?" asked Sully as Nate slowly began to walk towards the map. "Genius."

"Yeah, yeah," responded Nate with a wave of his hand. He then pointed to the map. "Okay, so, if we're here…this tower lines up with Avery's sigil."

"Okay, so then the other sigils…" started Sam as I watched once more the cogs of the brothers' minds begin whirring.

"Must be the towers from Avery's time," finished Nate.

Sam had his pondering face on.

"Well, I mean…our treasure's gotta be in one of them, right?" he said, turning to look at Sully and I.

"Yeah, but which one?" replied Sully and I returned my eyes to the map only to be distracted as a foul smell reached my nose. "I count twelve towers."

I glanced around for the source of it and saw Sam had turned away from the map and had moved over to something which he was bending down to pick up.

"Hey, ah…Victor?"

"Huh?" replied Sully, turning to him.

"You didn't start smoking cigarettes by any chance, did ya?"

Sam was holding the source of the smell up, a still smoking cigarette. We all turned to him, the realisation of what it meant rising in all of us.

"Looks like we're not the first ones here," said Sully, voicing our thoughts.

Suddenly a man's voice reached us, his words causing a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Fire in the hole!"

The boys drew their guns before pushing me behind the three of them. Then there was a horrible explosion from above and large chunks of the domed ceiling crashed down into the room.

"Get down!" yelled Nate as a nauseating fear rose in me and I froze as Sully and Sam ran forward in different directions.

"We've got the drop on 'em!" another man's voice said and I still could not move.

Men appeared, clad in black, sliding down ropes from above.

"Ah, shit!" I heard Sam exclaim. "It's an ambush!"

Suddenly Nate's hand was on my arm, dragging me forward towards cover. He shoved me down next to what looked like a book case and told me to stay there. He then started to move away before pausing and changing his mind. At that moment, however, a round of gun fire sounded, forcing him to take cover behind a fallen bit of rock where Sam had also taken cover. Sam returned fire giving Nate the cover he needed so he could get back to me. Nate produced a knife and thrust it into my hand with a look that said 'use it if you have to'. It was better then nothing as my rifle was still in the car, not that it would have been much use in this enclosed space, but the knife gave me no comfort. Then, with a nod, he moved off, drawing the mercenaries away from where I was.

Fear pounded through me, every shot, every yell, every scream of agony made my body spasm. I heard and felt the crash as part of one of the upper levels fell at some point and jumped when a grenade went off somewhere near me. Occasionally I would spot one of the trio shooting, punching or diving for cover, sometimes they were doing a bit of all three. But all I wanted to do was not to be there.

Then I heard a noise from somewhere above me, heavy footsteps were approaching. I looked around desperately for somewhere to hide before realising the 'bookcase' had some lower cupboards. I grabbed the handle and pulled, half expecting it to come away in my hands, but somehow I managed to wrench it open with a loud creaking sound and squeeze inside. Ignoring the feeling of claustrophobia, I listened fearfully as I heard someone drop down from above with a loud thud right outside the cupboard. I held my breath, the knife at the ready, trying not to make a sound even though I was pretty certain they knew my location. After all, they only had to open the slightly ajar cupboard door and they would have me. Yet for some unknown reason the inevitable never happened, the person moved off and the gun fire rattled on.

Curled in as much of a ball as I could manage in the tiny, cramped and increasingly dangerous space, I tried to block out the sounds of the fight. It appeared to work for a while, but I found I could not block out everything.

It came to my attention that there was a struggle going on when whoever it was crashed against my hiding spot. There was a gasping sound, someone fighting for air, and from the sounds of it they were losing the battle. Something about it made me swallow my own fear and risk a glance. The first thing I registered were the two pairs of shoes, one brown, one black. The brown pair was struggling in front of the black.

I moved, pulling myself out and taking in for a mere moment the black, armour clad figure choking out Nate before, without thinking, I drove the knife I held deep into the mercenary's side. He dropped his shotgun and loosened his grip on Nate in response, but as Nate scrabbled away, the armoured man turned and tried to punch me. He missed somehow, but I stumbled and fell heavily to the ground. The armoured mercenary then pulled the blade out and started to move towards me.

"Run!" I heard Nate yell as he lunged at the mercenary from behind, but the man just shrugged him off like a bothersome fly.

Running would have been the best answer, running would have been the logical answer, but logic had gone out the window and fear had taken over. So instead I was crawling backwards as the man continued to advance and Nate, sensing I was not in control, tried again to take the man down. As the two men struggled, my fingers brushed cold metal for the second time that day and I suddenly found the man's shotgun in my hands. He threw Nate off for the second time, winding him, and turned his attention once more back to me.

There was a loud boom, I felt something kick back into me and the slight smell of cordite reached my nose. There was the image of a figure falling and then Nate's face was in front of mine. His lips were moving and at first there was no sound, but his words finally got through to me.

"Are you okay?" he said, trying desperately to get a response from me.

I nodded numbly and as I tried to look around him, he stopped me.

"You don't want to see that. Trust me."

He took the shotgun from me gently.

"Just stay here," he said with a worried smile before leaving me once more alone to crawl back into the darkness of the cupboard.

I'm not sure how long I remained there. I was still in there long after it had gone silent, but eventually I heard footsteps and voices.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, fine. Sam?"

"Yeah, over here!"

More footsteps and then.

"Where's Freya?"

"I last saw her over there."

"I told her to stay there."

"Lass?"

The footsteps came closer. There was a pause and then the cupboard door creaked open.

"Hey, there you are," said Sully gently, taking in the nervous look I was giving him. "It's all right, it's over now."

I wanted to believe him, in fact I wished he was talking about the whole search for the treasure rather then just the ambush.

"Come on, it's okay," he said, extending his hand towards me.

I looked at it and he gave me a genuine smile, then I looked away.

"You don't want to stay in here do you?"

He had me there. I turned back to him, knowing he would spot that I was trying to hold back tears that were threatening to fall but he said nothing, only offering his hand to me once more. This time I took it and let him carefully help me out.

I slowly stretched my aching limbs and blinked several times to try and get used to how bright it was in the room. Yet as I caught sight of the leg of the man I'd shot, Sully quickly put an arm around me and turned me away. He gave my shoulder a squeeze and walked me over towards where Nate and Sam were. Sam was busy searching a dead man while Nate watched, though they both paused and glanced at me as we approached.

"Are you okay?" asked Nate as Sam went back to searching, though I'm sure he was still listening.

"I've been better," I replied quietly.

Nate gave me a small smile.

"Thanks for earlier," he added.

I gave him a simple nod.

"Shit. Look at this," said Sam as he removed what looked like a folded piece of paper from the dead man's shirt pocket and stood up.

Nate took it from him and unfolded it in front of us all. It was a map with circles drawn upon it, marking where all the towers were.

"They figured out the towers too," said Nate.

"Locations, sigils, the works," added Sam with a sigh.

Nate gave the map back to Sam.

"So now what?" asked Sully as I glanced back at the carved map upon the wall.

"Now what?" repeated Sam, a slight anger in his voice. Nate followed my gaze taking a few steps towards the map and I joined him. "Now we're screwed. Okay, because there's three…four of us. And there's God knows how many of them."

I noticed as Nate stood next to me that he had his thinking face on, it made me wonder what I was missing.

"And they have a head start," finished Sam as Nate walked straight towards the stone map.

"Yeah, but they don't know which tower to go to yet," said Nate, making Sam and Sully turn.

"That's great, Nathan, cause neither do we," responded Sam as I saw Nate had taken something out of his pocket.

"Yes we do," he replied, holding a small round disk up.

"The coin," I said quietly, as I made my way to Nate, gaining a glance from Sam and Sully.

"Look," said Nate as Sam and Sully came to join us. "It's a little worn down. Right there, that's a match."

He held the coin up to the scales sigil. Of course, I thought, that's why that sigil and the one next to it had caught my eye. But Sam sighed.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Because I mean it could be this one, too."

Nate held it up to the trident sigil that was next to the scales sigil. I squinted at it and, if I'm honest, I still thought it looked more like the scales then the trident. After all, I remembered when Sam had first given the coin to me to look at and my immediate thought had been it looked like a pair of scales.

"Crap," said Nate, seeming to agree with his brother that it could be both.

Sully sighed. "But still…two beats the hell out of twelve."

"All right. I'm gonna take this tower," said Sam, pointing to the trident. "You and Sully, you take that one."

"No, no, no, no, no," said Nate, taking a step back and meeting his brother's eyes. "Rafe's guys are all over these towers by now."

"Exactly. So if we wanna have a chance to catch them, then we've got to split up."

Sam then turned and made as if to leave.

"Sam, just hold up a second, will ya?" said Nate, still looking at the coin and the symbols.

Sam moved off to my left instead.

"Nate, he's right," said Sully quietly. "These towers are at opposite ends of King's Bay."

Nate sighed, defeated, as Sam came back over. Nate looked between him and Sully.

"Damn it."

There was a paused and I took my chance to speak.

"Um, what about me?" I asked and they all turned.

"You should go with them," said Sam, nodding to Sully and Nate. I thought I saw a strange look in his eye before he added. "Safer that way."

"Oh, right," I said simply, to which he nodded and set off back the way we came.

I watched him go, Nate following after and Sully after that, though Sully paused and turned.

"You coming, lass?" he asked and I jolted slightly before giving him a smile.

"Yes," I replied before jumping off the platform and jogging over to him to catch them up.

When we were finally back out in the warm Madagascan sunshine we found one of Shoreline's jeeps for Sam to use to get to his tower. He got in and settled himself into the driver's seat.

"If you run into any of those Shoreline clowns, you call us, okay?" said Nate, looking his brother in the eye to show he was serious.

Sam nodded before glancing between us. I expected someone to say what I was sure we were all thinking, but seemingly being men they could not bring themselves to say the words.

"Be careful," I said simply, causing Sam to meet my eyes.

He gave me the slightest smile and a nod before looking once more around us all.

"See you soon," he said and with that he drove off.

Nate sighed and Sully tapped him on the arm.

"C'mon, Nate. We gotta hurry," he said before moving back towards the car with me.

"Yeah," replied Nate, taking one last look at the disappearing dust trail of his brother before joining us.

I hoped we were doing the right thing.

* * *

There we go. Hope you all enjoyed that. Next chapter we should be back in King's Bay. If you kindly fancy telling me what you thought then press that review button and make my Easter! :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18, Cecilia Haunt and Neon Jack for your reviews. To whitephoenix18, thank you and here is the next one. To Cecilia Haunt, your wish is granted, here is an extra long chapter. To Neon Jack, thanks and I hope you enjoy this one.

Right ok, here is the next chapter. The longest of the lot so far with more, you guessed it, UC4 dialogue as always. I hope you all enjoy it. So read on...dear readers, read on...

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

The drive back to King's Bay was a quiet one. Nate was concentrating on getting us there quickly and safely, I was listening to music to calm my nerves and I think Sully was doing his best to not be concerned about us both by leaving us to our thoughts. Yet while I was sad to leave the wild beauty of Madagascar behind, I was more then glad to be back in the charming streets of King's Bay.

Our tower, as it turned out, was not far from the main market and as we parked right next to the bustling place, the tower could be seen rising high above the surrounding buildings.

"All right, there's our tower," said Nate as he got out the car.

I have to say it looked in remarkably good condition compared to the others I had seen.

"You really think all that treasure's gonna be just sitting in the middle of a goddamn market?" queried Sully, making his way towards the steps that led down into said market.

"Oh yeah, that'd be crazy," replied Nate as I joined them at the top of the stairs.

Sully scoffed.

"But we've seen crazy before," continued Nate, glancing down into the market.

"That we have," concurred Sully.

"Right, so when you guys are done reminiscing are we going to get going?" I asked, already halfway down the steps.

"I thought you might need a moment to catch your breath," replied Sully with a smile to which I gave him a look and while his tone was light, his eyes held a seriousness that said he was concerned.

"I've had a moment, I got over an hour's worth of moment from the drive back," I said, though I had been supremely grateful for it.

"Okay then," said Sully with a nod and Nate gave me a smile. "Shall we?"

We started making our way through the crowded market. There were people everywhere and the goods on display were an array of colours and smells that filled the senses. I wished I could look round it, though it was not the first Madagascan market we had been to, just to see what was different and experience more of the culture of the place. We passed a couple of meat stalls and headed down a more central though slightly less crowded part, full of pottery stalls. Two ladies ahead had baskets filled with bright red apples and I saw them spot us, reminding me of when a cat sees a bird.

"Apples!" one shouted.

"Apples!" shouted the second as the first moved into Nate's path.

"Buy my fresh apples! Only fifteen hundred Ariary!" she said to Nate's face.

"Ah, no," said Nate, trying to dodge politely out her way and failing.

I laughed and Sully just folded his arms and smirked as Nate gave in.

"Okay. Fine. Fine. Here," he said, handing over his money.

"Ah, thank you very much, sir," she said with a smile as Nate took his apple. "Enjoy your apple! And tell your friends!"

We smiled and nodded and continued passed as Nate took a bite out of the apple. Up ahead I spotted something that caught my interest. Sat atop one stall was a Ring-tailed lemur and below it sat a man with a second Ring-tail upon his shoulder. I moved down the steps and slowly approached before indicating to man I was wondering if I could touch it.

"Can I…?"

The man nodded so I bent down and let the lemur sniff my hand. It seemed to accept I was not an immediate danger and I then gently touched it with my fingers. Its fur was quite soft and it seemed to enjoy being stroked. Nate was coming down the stairs behind me and seeing what I was doing, came over too. I gave him a smile and a little resentfully, I have to say, relinquished my spot.

"Hey there, little guy," said Nate now bending down to greet the lemur. It made me smile to see he spoke to animals too. It sniffed his hand and then raised its chin so he could stroke it. "How you doin'?"

He scratching it gently moving his hand to its back whereupon it flexed with pleasure.

"Hey, you like that? Huh?"

"Nate," called Sully and both Nate, the lemur and I looked in his direction. "Tower."

"But, Sully, c'mon. It's a lemur!" he replied. "C'mon, come say hi."

Sully scoffed. "That's all right."

I rolled my eyes. Nate chuckled and gave me a grin.

"So cute."

I nodded and we made to follow Sully. Then suddenly there was the light patter of feet and a flash of a striped tail, as the lemur appeared from behind and leapt up onto Nate's shoulder with a chunter like cry.

"Whoa-hey!" he exclaimed as he found his balance suddenly altered. "Hey, Sully, look who's back."

I have to say, I was jealous as hell right up to the moment the cheeky little creature stole Nate's half eaten apple right out of his hand.

"Hey!" cried Nate, but it was off with its prize like a shot, its black and white tail disappearing from sight. "He stole my apple."

I just laughed as did Sully.

"Can't trust anyone these days," he commented and I laughed more.

"Hey, you know what?" said Nate, seemingly ignoring my laughter. "After this is over and done with…I'm gonna get a dog."

"Hey, we come out of this in one piece, I'll buy you the damn dog," replied Sully.

"Can I name it Victor?"

Sully laughed. "Sure."

I followed the two up some steps where Sully paused as he noticed some shirts, one which looked remarkably like the one he was wearing.

"Hey, Nate. Want me to buy you one of these?"

"Sully, you gotta be crazy to wear a shirt like that."

"Ah…crazy handsome," he replied, winking at me before putting the shirt back.

Up the next set of steps, there were more stalls and the sounds of sizzling food could be heard as well as smelled.

"Oh man," said Sully. "Something smells really good."

We walked past a stall cooking what looked like chicken.

"Mmm," said Nate, taking in a lungful of the smells coming from the stall. "He's right. Does smell good."

"Sure it does," I commented. "Then again we haven't eaten properly since breakfast."

"Fair point," replied Nate. "But no time to stop now."

I nodded. "Onwards…and probably upwards, right?"

Nate smiled and we made our way to join Sully who was stood before the door of the tower. Nate moved to try the door.

"Hey, here we go…" he started, but the door did not open. "Locked…I guess we're gonna have to sneak in."

"Discreetly," added Sully.

"Implied by the use of the word "sneak," Sully," said Nate, beginning to look for a way in.

"Ah," said Sully with a nod.

Having tried one side we now headed to the other side of the tower. There was a path that led away from the market, around the outside of the tower. It ended in a medium drop down into some foliage, but across the drop there was a window belonging to the tower, a window that was broken.

"Hey, check it out - that window over there is broken," commented Sully.

There was a fence but it was incomplete, possibly broken too, and the tower had pillars on this side to support it as it was built into a slope. The pillars had narrow ledges that in theory you could stand on and they conveniently led to the open window.

"Hey Sully, Freya! I think we can squeeze through here," said Nate, moving carefully out onto the nearest pillar ledge.

"That'll work," replied Sully, while I just stared at Nate shimming along.

"Um guys," I started. "Should I maybe just stay here. You know, guard the door maybe?"

"What if Rafe's guys show up?" asked Nate, glancing back at me.

"What if they're in there?" I replied, pointing to the window.

"You do know you're most likely safer with us," said Sully, coming to stand by me. "Besides if I can get across there, you can."

"But you haven't crossed yet…"

"We'll help you," said Nate quickly. "I won't let you fall."

I sighed, I was not keen, but they were probably right about the safety part.

"Fine," I said and taking a calming breath, I stepped out on the ledge.

It was frighteningly narrow and I could feel my legs start to shake almost immediately.

"Jesus. Long way down," said Sully as he stepped out after me.

I wished to strangle him.

"You okay back there?" asked Nate.

I shuffled to the end where Nate had jumped across to the next pillar.

"You keep your pace. I'll keep mine," replied Sully.

"Yeah, well, at least you got a great view, right?" he commented.

He then reached out with his right arm and offered his hand to me

"Oh God," I said, staring in horror at what he expected me to do.

"C'mon," he encouraged. "You'll be fine. I got you."

I glanced down at the drop and then wished I had not. I pressed my forehead against the stone and tried to stay calm, even though my legs were definitely shaking now.

"Just look at Nate," said Sully as he came to a halt beside me. "Focus on him."

I slowly turned my face to look at Nate's calm and handsome one, his hand still stretched out towards me. Slower still, I moved my left arm and steadily reached out towards him. I felt Sully take hold of my right arm and steady himself so he could catch me if I somehow messed up. Finally my fingers brushed Nate's and I took another step so I could lean a little further and take his hand properly.

"Okay, are you ready?" he asked, meeting my eyes.

I nodded.

"Right then. On three," he said, steadying himself in anticipation of taking my weight as Sully let go. "One. Two. Three!"

I jumped, a few seconds of being in the air, and then my feet met the other ledge. I wobbled slightly, but Nate ensured I was stable before he let go. Then with a nod we moved carefully up to the next one and repeated the process. The second time was easier in getting me to go, but I did loose my footing and if it had not been for Nate I would have definitely fallen. However, it had so far been relatively easy for the next bit was much more difficult.

We moved to the end of the pillar and now we had to go up. Nate jumped up easily, taking a firm two handed hold of the even narrower ledge above us, his feet resting against the stone. He then reached out with his left hand for the ledge on the side of the tower, upon the wider part of which sat a large stone planter or vase decoration. Then with an intake of breath he leapt and caught onto the opposite ledge, making it look sickeningly easy, but of all the parts this was the most likely bit I would fail.

"Just take your time, lass," said Sully as he joined me on the last pillar.

I looked up at the ledge above me. If my Father could see me now, I'd be in so much trouble. I took a breath and jumped. My fingers found the ledge, but immediately let me know this was painful and a stupid idea while my legs scrabbled uselessly below; unable to find any footing. I think I almost kicked Sully in the face in my attempt to secure myself, but he said nothing of it.

"Easy now," said Nate, taking a one handed grip of the ledge and reaching out with his right hand.

"I'm sorry," I said and I could hear the shame and fear in my own voice.

"Its okay. Nothing to be sorry about."

"Just reach out to Nate, lass."

"I…I don't think I can," I said and I could feel my aching fingers slipping. "I'll fall, I am falling."

"Trust me," said Nate. "Look at me and come now."

My fingers were going as I looked at Nate and my feet were still scrabbling wildly.

"Now!" he called and I just flung myself desperately at him…and missed. I was falling and then Nate somehow grabbed one of my flailing arms, stopping my decent.

"I got you!" he said, his voice strained. He himself was losing his grip, but he still managed haul me back up. He then shuffled nimbly around before hauling himself up to and through the window. I followed, barely hanging on, and lunged ungracefully at the window edge, smacking my chin into the stone and scraping my chest and my arm before struggling up and collapsing through into the building. I crashed slightly painfully onto the floor, but by God I was happy to be inside. Sully soon joined us and then clapped me on the back for my effort even though I did not deserve it in the slightest in my opinion.

Nate pulled a face when his eyes saw what I'd done to my chin to get in the window. I knew I'd broken the skin, not only because it stung like hell, but I could feel blood dripping down. Sully gave me a hanky to stem the bleeding and we made to move out of the side room we had entered into and go through into the main area.

"Okay. Let's see what we got," said Nate, leading us into a large open area that had a depressed circular bit of floor that contained a giant mosaic, I guessed, of the scales sigil.

"Wow," said Sully, looking around. "This place is in much better shape than the other towers."

"It's right in the middle of the city," Nate pointed out as he found some stairs that led off the room and up to a large set of carved wooden doors.

So we headed up them.

"Might make getting the treasure out a bit tricky," replied Sully and I agreed.

We could not exactly just walk out the front door with it in front of all those people.

Nate scoffed. "One thing at a time. Let's just not draw undue attention to ourselves."

Well walking out with a load of gold in our hands would certainly do that, I thought, but I was pretty sure he was meaning right at this moment. Nate pushed open the doors, startling a large number of pigeons who had appeared to have been living in the tower, to reveal an even larger and grander room then the one before it.

"Holy…" exclaimed Nate, glancing upwards.

Above us I recognised a pair of giant clock weights and some massive wooden cogs suggesting the place housed a clock, as well as various wooden platforms that appeared to suggest you could get up there.

"This is a very tall clock tower," remarked Sully, joining us in looking up.

"Yes. Yes it is," replied Nate and I got the feeling he knew he was going to have to climb up it.

In the centre of the room was another, though slightly less depressed, circle which held a compass design and in its centre was a raised circular block. Nate moved over to it and began studying it. In the very centre was a small round depression, done in gold or brass, which had an image that looked remarkably like the volcano design on the coin.

"Hmm," murmured Nate, taking out the coin and comparing it before turning to us. "Now what do you bet…?"

He then flipped the coin up and caught it before slam dunking it into the depression. Immediately the block started sinking into itself and Nate came back to joins us.

"Oh ho…I think we're onto something," remarked Sully excitedly and Nate laughed.

The block continued sinking, turning in slightly jerking stages before the top of it became flush with the floor. Then the compass points, which were apparently round disks raised just off the floor, began to turn, starting with the west, and as they did they also turned the pillars in the little alcoves, that were in the walls opposite each compass point, around to reveal statues.

"Scorpion…guy with a…large pitcher…" started Sully as each statue turned.

Nate laughed. "They're zodiac symbols."

South then turned.

"Look there's Leo," said Nate, pointing to the lion.

"Ah, and Taurus," added Sully as the last one turned.

"Yeah four signs…" said Nate, his thinking face back on.

There was suddenly a donging noise from above.

"And four bells way up there," remarked Sully, I could already see where this was going. "And these things in the middle of the floor look like locks."

"I got it," said Nate. "Let's go ring some bells."

A spiralling set of wooden stairs was rising out the floor, but like so much of the pirate stuff I'd seen it started off well and then the steps started breaking.

"Crap," muttered Nate.

"Shit. Now what?" said Sully, shaking his head.

"This is definitely the place. Call Sam!" said Nate as the broken stairs continued to rise.

"On it," replied Sully, taking out his phone.

"Scorpio, Aquarius, Leo, Taurus," recited Nate, scribbling it down in his journal.

"Voicemail," said Sully and I could not help but think that seemed a little strange. "Hey, Sam. Looks like we're at the right tower. Call us."

He hung up and then seeing my concerned look added.

"They don't have the best coverage in this city."

"Well, no reason to wait," commented Nate, now putting away his journal.

"So, extreme campanology time?" I said as we walked over to the broken steps.

"Yep, extreme campanology time," he replied, taking out his grappling rope.

"You never know, it might catch on," I continued as Sully and I moved out of the way as Nate began to swing the rope. "Become a whole new sport."

Nate laughed and Sully shook his head.

Once he had secured the grapple onto the steps he expertly climbed up onto the lower part of the two bits of the staircase that remained.

"I'll be right back," he called down to us, but I doubted whatever he had to do would be simple.

He jumped to one of the wooden platforms before leaping onto one of the clock weights which immediately began to descend while the other rose up.

"Okay. Hoo boy," Nate exclaimed, before the weight then came to a stop and Nate laughed. "I'll be damned. Hey check it out, Sully, Freya - the clock still works!"

He began climbing carefully up the weight.

"Yeah we noticed," replied Sully. "Now try not to get tangled in those gears up there."

"You bet!" he replied as he leapt onto the next platform.

"Mad," I said, shaking my head.

"Tell me about it," replied Sully as we continued to watch Nate's ascent.

He now leapt onto the other weight, quickly climbing and then grabbing the first weight, which was now going up while the other went down due to Nate's added weight upon it. He grabbed onto a higher platform, but only just, as the weight he was on had begun to descend as soon as he had got on. Yet as he grabbed the platform there was a horrible crunching noise.

"Whoa!" we heard him exclaim.

Then there was a splintering, cracking noise and we saw part of the platform give way and we ran for cover. As the dust and splinters trickled down Nate's voice reached us from above.

"You guys okay?"

"Yeah, all right!" Sully called back up as I nodded to his silent question.

"Okay, watch your fingers Nate," we heard him say.

"Should we be nervous?" asked Sully, I have to say that sound travelled pretty well in here.

"No. I'm good. Trust me," came the reply to which Sully and I glanced at each other knowingly.

"Where have I heard that before," replied Sully, winking at me.

I sat down with my back against the wall and listened to the almost comforting tick of the clock. It was pleasantly cool and peaceful in here and I felt pretty safe apart from the occasional risk of being taken out by falling wood.

"I wouldn't get too comfy, lass," said Sully as he came and lent on the wall next to me.

"No, I guess not," I replied, glancing upwards. "Not with Nate up there."

Sully chuckled.

"Hey! I heard that!" came a reply from somewhere above.

We waited patiently hoping that Nate was being careful up there. Then finally there was a single dong from up above and the Scorpio statue began to move. I got to my feet and stood by Sully watching it.

"Hey Nate, that did the trick!" called Sully as the statue twisted back round and thumped into place, then its representative disk also moved, receding back under the floor. "The Scorpio lock just released!"

"Okay, moving on to the next one!"

We looked up expectantly, wondering how long it would take him to reach the next bell. We did not have to wait long as another dong soon reached our ears. The Aquarius statue now began to move like the first, its disk also disappearing.

"Two down, two to go, kid!"

There was a pause and then a loud bang like crunch and both Sully and I noticeably flinched in anticipation, but nothing came down thank goodness. The next dong soon came and the lion statue began to turn.

"Leo is unlocked!" yelled Sully, though I was not sure how well Nate's hearing would be doing up there with all those bells.

After all my ears were not enjoying the sound just being down here.

There was just one more bell to be rung. As we waited for Nate to monkey his way to it or whatever horribly dangerous thing he was doing to get there, his voice called down to us.

"Hey Sully, any word from Sam?"

I glanced at him, unless he had his phone on silent I had not heard or seen him take any calls.

"Not yet!"

Sully looked at me, we were all just a little worried.

The next dong came from above and the bull moved followed by its disk and then something new happened.

"Nate, that did it!" called Sully.

"Great!" came his reply

The centre of depressed circle on the floor began to move; opening, parting and spinning to reveal a large image of a sideways skull and bones done in black and gold.

"Taurus is unlocked and Avery's sigil just appeared in the floor," explained Sully loudly.

"And?" called Nate, but that appeared to be it apart from a dong of a bell from somewhere above.

"Damn. That's it. Nothin'," said Sully as I looked around to see if anything else had changed.

"Well hey, there is that big bell at the top," called Nate and I felt a slight uneasiness grow in me. "Hold on. I'm headin' on up."

"Okay! Watch those gears!" hollered Sully.

It made my skin crawl just thinking about being mangled in-between them and I shivered. The minutes ticked by literally and I paced a little, glancing up from time to time. I was growing slightly concerned and Sully could easily tell, but finally Nate's voice reached us.

"Okay Sully, Freya, I made it!"

"All right kid, go for it!"

There was a slight whining noise and then a loud snap. I was pretty sure I heard the words 'ah, crap!' from above before a loud bang and suddenly stuff was clattering down from above.

"Guys! Heads up!" yelled Nate's voice as we threw ourselves out the way.

"Jesus! What the hell happened?" Sully yelled back as I helped him up and we dusted ourselves off.

"Sorry! The handle broke," came his reply and I sighed.

At least it had only been the handle.

"Yeah, well try not to drop anything else on our heads, all right?" called Sully.

I glanced up at all that was above us.

"Do you think we should move now?" I asked, indicating to the door where we had come in. "Just in case?"

Sully pondered it for a second and then just nodded.

"Probably a good idea."

No sooner had we begun to cross towards the door then there was a loud dong from above followed by a horrible splintering noise. We glanced at each other and then ran for the door.

"Guys! Get the hell out of the way!" we heard over the terrible din that sounded like the entire clock tower coming down on us. We flung ourselves into the corridor beyond the doorway and covered our heads with our arms just as stuff started crashing into the floor. Gears of various sizes, wood and even rock, that I guessed was part of the clock tower, was raining down. Dust and splinters filling the air.

Then there was a moment of stillness and it appeared to have ended. I uncovered my head just slightly, but then, with a mournful creak and more splintering, whatever had halted the descent gave way and the rumbling sound returned. Sully pulled me close to him to help shield me a little more as a whole load more including a bell came crashing down onto the floor with a terrible racket. The force of which knocked us off our feet and created a huge cloud of dust.

Slowly we got to our feet as a voice reached our ears.

"Holy shit," it said and we quickly headed back into the room.

Nate was on the floor slowly getting up and groaning as he did, when suddenly a large gear dropped from above, missing him by inches. We ran over to him as the dust settled and he looked from the gear to us.

"Ha ha," was Nate's only response to the fact he had been inches from death.

"Jesus Christ!" remarked Sully.

"Hey Sully," said Nate, sounding kinda dazed. He glanced at me. "Freya."

Then he glance to where the floor had been broken open revealing some steps.

"Oh shit. At least I got the door open though, huh?"

"That's one way to do it," replied Sully with a laugh. "You all right?"

"I don't know yet. You?"

"Deaf," answered Sully before turning to me. "Lass?"

"Somehow still in one piece," I said, getting a smile from them both. "Safer with you guys, my ass!"

They chuckled at that.

"C'mon," said Nate, starting down the steps. "Let's see what Avery has in store for us."

At the bottom there appeared to be a way through, but it was partially blocked with wood and what looked to be Leo's head. Nate bent down and gripping the metal head, attempted to move it, before with a shake of his head Sully joined him. Together they managed to shove it aside and as they did Sully spotted something.

"Hey, look," he said, pointing at something on the floor. "The coin. You want it?"

I was amazed that had survived, let alone been found. Sully picked it off the floor and held it up.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" replied Nate, receiving it off Sully and with his words reminding me of one of my favourite films at the same time. "Let's see what's down here."

"Fingers crossed for piles of gold and jewels," said Sully, though somehow I doubted it would be just sitting there if it was even there at all.

We eased ourselves through the gap the two had created and into, what looked to me to be, a Bunsen burner lit corridor. How those flames were still alight after all these years and after all that stuff had come down on the place from above, who knew. But I was almost certain whoever had invented the stuff that was fuelling them would make a pretty penny in today's market.

Just as we entered Sully's phone buzzed twice and lit up. Sully immediately answered it.

"Sam! Finally, you okay?"

Sully put it on speaker phone.

 _"Just searched my tower. I got nothing."_

It was a relief to hear his voice as we started down some steps that curved around to the left.

"Yeah, well, we're definitely in the right place. Make your way over here."

 _"Are you serious? Okay, I'm on my way."_

He hung up whereupon Sully felt the need to add.

"He's coming."

"Good," replied Nate and I rolled my eyes.

Down and round the steps went taking us deeper into somewhere, until we reached a pair of wooden doors at the bottom. Nate tried to push them open, but they appeared to be stiff. Nate called Sully over and they pushed together. The doors, which were heavier then they looked, opened slowly to reveal a shadowy room beyond, which became suddenly brighter as the central chandelier torch mysteriously lit itself. In the middle there stood a large circular thing which looked impressive, but I had no clue as to what it was called. There was also two large statues of a pair of men and I made a guess upon entering that one was probably Avery.

"Whoa," said Nate, impressed by the room I guessed or the circular thing, I was not entirely sure with him.

"Hey, are those our boys?" asked Sully, indicating to the two statues.

"Yup. Henry Avery, Thomas Tew: partners in crime," replied Nate.

I knew it, I thought, but then again it was a tiny bit obvious.

Nate now walked up to the circular thing and we followed. I have to say, whatever it was, it intrigued me. I was interested to see what Nate made of it. He lent forward and dusted a part of it, revealing the word 'Founders'.

"Founders," he announced. "Founders of what?"

"Worst scavenger hunt ever?" responded Sully to which Nate and I chuckled at and Sully winked at me.

"Here are Avery and Tew's sigils," said Nate, pointing to the two wooden squares in the middle of the circle within the circle thing. "These are a little different though."

"Yeah," concurred Sully, as Nate put his hand on one. "They got those star patterns on them."

I looked and agreed. Then Nate made a twist movement with his hand upon the left one and it moved.

"They turn," he said, seeming a little surprised but he kept twisting it round. "But which way are they supposed to go…"

I watched as he continued to turn it and looked to Sully who seemed to be as unsure as Nate. I sighed and when that did not get their attention, I cleared my throat.

"Nate?"

He finally glanced back at me.

"Turn that one again," I said, pointing to Avery's sigil.

"Okay," he replied and did so as Sully glanced at me.

"You on to something, lass?"

"Now turn the other to your right," I said and Nate complied.

There was a satisfying click and the two squares joined together as three more sigil squares revealed themselves at the top of the disk and slid neatly down into the circle in the middle.

"Whoa," said Nate and Sully gave me a smile as a rumbling sound came to our attention and a doorway opened to our left.

"Okay…" said Sully as we watched the door mechanism come to a halt. "Should we go look?"

"Yeah…" started Nate as Sully began to walk over. He paused and glanced at the new sigil squares. "Just a second."

Sully paused and came back over.

"More pirate symbols," he commented as Nate and I crouched down to look at them.

"Adam Baldridge, Anne Bonny, and, uh, Christopher Condent," said Nate, pointing to each one.

Nate then began to spin them before pausing and glancing at me. I however shook my head and stood back up. There were no marks on these new ones to line up, therefore I could not be sure of which way they were supposed to go. He turned back to it and continued to spin them before with a sigh of frustration, he also stood back up.

"I mean there's too many permutations," he remarked with a shake of his head.

"I say we see where that door leads," said Sully and I shook my head in agreement. "Still hoping for some treasure here."

"You and me both," replied Nate, he then glanced at me.

"No arguments here," I said with a smile.

We headed to the door, up a step and into a small side room with three amazing pictures. The sort you would see in an art museum in London and I suspected each one was likely worth a small fortune. Above each picture there was a name.

"Hey look, I was right," said Nate, though I had never doubted him. "Baldridge, Bonny, and Condent."

"Splendid," responded Sully. "But why are they here in the first place?"

"Well, let's find out," he replied as he approached Baldridge's painting. "Whoa. That moustache. It's almost as impressive as yours."

"Hmm, it's alright," said Sully as we watched Nate suddenly peer at the painting.

"Hey, look at these stars," said Nate, gently touching the painting and I imagined all the art lovers sucking air through their teeth and cringing as he did so. "They're just like the ones on the Avery and Tew sigils in the other room."

"Hey, you're right," agreed Sully as we all now glanced at them.

Nate then scribbled the image into his journal before heading over to Condent's picture. I liked his painting, he looked dark and broody and cool. Sure I would not have liked to have met him, but his painting, why I was happy to meet that.

"Ah, that's right," said Nate, looking at the next painting. "Condent went by 'Billy One-Hand'. Guess he had one made."

I now noticed that one of his hands was silver, my eyes had just passed over it before.

"Here's another one of those star patterns," commented Nate as he got out his journal again.

"Yeah, but this one's different than that first one," remarked Sully, also squinting at it.

"Oh yeah. Good catch," responded Nate as if he had been concentrating so hard on getting the marks down correctly, he had not noticed they were different.

"Thank you," said Sully. "See I'm not just a pretty face."

I smirked and shook my head as we moved onto the last painting, this one of the lady pirate.

"Huh, Bonny was a redhead," remarked Nate, looking up at the rather fetching woman.

"Yeah…" said Sully, his tone hinting he was rather partial to women of that hair colour.

He copied down the last set of stars and then studied the results.

"What do you think?" queried Sully as he and I watched Nate study them.

"Those Avery and Tew sigils," he started. "The stars on those lined up, remember?"

Sully gave my shoulder a squeeze.

"I bet these line up too," finished Nate.

Nate then tore out the three he had drawn with the star placements and put them over the original images he sketched of the three sigils. He then began turning them in an attempt to make them all align. It did not take him long to make it work and so with our theory on paper, we headed back to the disk. One left and two right later and the satisfying click came again, but predictably the puzzle was far from done with us. Three more sigils turned and replaced the three we had just solved, followed by another door opening.

"More of 'em," sighed Sully, before glancing at the new opening. "And another doorway."

"Yeah," nodded Nate.

"So…who were these guys?" asked Sully.

I looked at the new sigils, I recognised a couple of them. Now if I could just remember what Sam had said.

"That's…Um…They are ah…" tried Nate.

"You don't know do ya?" said Sully with a look.

"Hey, there were a lot of pirates out there, you know," replied Nate, giving him a look back.

"So we're stuck?" concluded Sully.

"No we're not stuck," said Nate, clearly he had a plan. "Would you- give me your phone."

"What, you're gonna phone a friend?" said Sully, getting his phone out and handing it to Nate.

I laughed and Nate ignored me.

"Close," he responded, taking the phone and then turning on its camera feature. "Text a brother."

He took a picture and sent it. "There."

I now moved to look at the symbols.

"Well, if your asking for my tuppence worth, which your not," I started and the two glanced my way. "I think the trident is Farrell, somebody Farrell and the dolphins are Richard Want."

"It'll be Joseph Farrell. Since when did you know about pirate's sigils?" asked Nate, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Since I listened to your brother back in the big tower with that map," I replied with a smile.

Nate laughed. "He'd be surprised you listened, let alone remembered. Let's see what he replies then."

We then headed into the new side room to find another set of paintings. Two more pirates stared back at us from their frames, the third had fallen upon the floor.

"You know, these are actually some nice paintings," said Sully and I still agreed wholeheartedly. "If we don't find the treasure, maybe we could sell them to a museum."

"Let's find those star patterns," remarked Nate, a clear indication he did not want to think about what 'not finding the treasure' would mean.

"Okay. Just saying," replied Sully, glancing back at the pictures.

Above the beautiful pieces of art their name plaques hung for all to see.

"And look, the lass was right," continued Sully as Nate made his way over to the first picture on the left. "Joseph Farrell and Richard Want."

"Uh huh," concurred Nate, looking back at me and giving me a grin. "It's looking good for your assumption."

I shrugged and came to join him at the picture.

"William Mayes…" read Nate. "Hmm."

"American?" queried Sully.

"Yeah, from Rhode Island, just like Thomas Tew."

We peered at the painting, it was slightly less obvious, but we soon found the little square shape with its markings.

"There," said Nate, making a note of it and then as he put away his journal Sully's phone buzzed and lit up again.

Nate answered it.

"Hey. You still in the tower?"

Speaker phone again.

 _"Yeah, just climbed back down. What's with the picture you just sent?"_

"I'll fill you in later. For now, just tell me who's who."

 _"Well, the dolphins are Richard Want. The trident is Joseph Farrell, and the two hands with the pearl is William Mayes."_

Nate grinned at me and Sully just winked.

"All right, great. Stay where there's good reception. I might need your help again."

 _"Wait, Nathan. Did you find the treasure?"_

"No, not yet. But I got a mechanism to solve here; I'll let you know."

He then hung up and we got back to the paintings.

Once we had found the two star sets in Mayes and Want's pictures, Sully and Nate picked up the fallen painting of Farrell and having put it back up, Nate ensuring it was straight because it mattered to him, we made to find the last one. With all three patterns we then set about aligning the three once more in the journal first. This one was slightly more difficult then the first two. Yet once again I managed to point out if you turned Mayes' sigil upside down, then it matched with Want's if you turned it to the left and that made the alignment of Farrell's easy.

"Your quite good at these, huh?" remarked Nate as we headed back to the disk.

I shrugged. "I don't know, they just seem to make sense to me."

Another click and we had hoped it was the last one, but now four sigils turned, including the scales one, and replaced the three. We all collectively sighed as another door opened.

"Okay," said Sully, accepting that what had to be done, had to be done. "So who do we have here?"

Nate peered at the four on display. "Ah-"

"You know, I'm honestly shocked you don't know this stuff," interjected Sully as Nate bent down again to now take another photo.

"Oh, I do," said Nate quickly and I struggled to hold back a laugh. "I just want to make sure Sam knows…You know, because he likes to feel useful. That's all."

Sully was glancing at me and I was grinning madly back.

"Aha. Of course," responded Sully and I quickly made my way to the new room to hide my laughter, only to come to a dramatic halt as I entered the room.

"Shit. What happened here?" said Sully, coming in behind me.

"A torch probably fell or something," suggested Nate as we all looked at the fact two of the paintings had been damaged by a fire. "C'mon let's see what's left."

Nate moved to the first painting on the left and looked at it. He did not know who it was, but we all agreed he seemed younger then the other pirates in the pictures. He reminded me of Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island for some reason, I wasn't sure why. Nate carefully searched the scorched painting for the stars and luckily for us he found them, still legible.

It was at that point Sam replied, though he sent a txt this time rather then calling.

"Oh, Sam texted me back," remarked Nate as he pulled out the phone.

His text told us who the sigils belonged to, all except the monkey which, according to Sam, he had never seen it before.

"Ah, you see there Sully?" said Nate, pointing to the screen. "Turns out Sam doesn't know everything either."

"Gloating is unseemly," replied Sully.

"Yeah, I know…Let's just look at the paintings."

The second painting, the other burnt partially by the fire, was of a dark skinned pirate. Nate thought he was probably a Moor from his attire and from then on all I could think of was Morgan Freeman's Azeem in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. This pirate had nothing on the lovely Morgan Freeman though.

Once again, as luck would have it, we found the star pattern, somehow miraculously saved from the flames. This left the two paintings that could still be identified: Yazid al-Basra and Edward England. The star patterns were easier to find on the two and with them, we now had a full set. This left us now with the problem of working out which went where when two were unidentifiable.

Nate began to try and figure it out, we had the ones on either end, but the two unknowns were in the middle. He swivelled the bits of paper around for several minutes and then his face lit up for a moment before it fell again. I sidled over to him and peered over his shoulder, he was focused and his tongue was edging out the corner of his mouth a little. I lent closer, my shoulder pressing against his as I twisted my head a little, my eyes spotting something that I thought could work when I became aware Nate's focus face was gone and his eyes were on me. I glanced quickly at him.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry," I said, making to move away as I spotted Sully was smirking.

Nate shook his head and handed me the journal. "Be my guest."

"Uh, ok. Are you sure?"

"Yes," he replied as he took a couple of steps back and Sully came to join him.

The two were giving each other knowing looks, but I ignored them. I now focused on the paper. Turning the scales sigil back the right way up I glanced round its edge before looking to the two unknown. One had a single mark like the scales so I started there, aligning the two in a way so the serpent creature was turned to the left. That presented me with two marks that the other unknown also had, so far so good. Then I got to the tiger and I realised I was wrong, but as I looked at it I immediately thought I saw the solution. I turned them now so that the tiger's three and one mark matched with the monkey's three and one. This meant if I turned the serpent the right way up, it matched with the monkey, but again it did not match with the scales. This had taken me two to three minutes and I thought for just a second that maybe I had been over confident about how easy it was, when I just looked down and saw it. Idiot, I thought. It was the other way around.

I turned the tiger to the right so it was looking at the floor, and, having swapped the two bits of paper, I turned the monkey on its head. This matched the two and one marks, that I had had right on my second attempt, which left the three and one meaning the scales sigil had to be on its head.

"Got it!" I exclaimed and we all but ran back to the disk.

Nate and Sully looked at what I had and Nate gave his nod of approval.

"Go on then," I said, thrusting the journal at him.

Nate shook his head. "You do the honours."

I glanced between him and Sully before moving forward and kneeling before the disk.

Scales upside-down, Serpent to the left, Monkey upside-down, Tiger to the right. Click.

"Boom!" said Nate, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Nicely done, lass."

I laughed and got back up as the sigils all returned to their places and the disk turned over becoming a table, its underside now on top.

"Would you look at that," said Nate, shaking his head.

"Here we go," added Sully as we now all observed the revealed underside. "What do we got?"

Three disks turned over and if you had drawn lines between the three, it would have made a perfect triangle.

"Ah…not sure yet," replied Nate, approaching the table.

"Maybe send it to Sam?" queried Sully.

"Really?" said Nate, sounding a touch offended.

"Hey," said Sully defensively. "You're the one that said he's the pirate expert. Just saying."

Nate took out the phone and began photographing each disk that had turned over while Sully glanced more closely at the nearest disk.

"All right, let's see what he makes of 'em," said Nate as he took the last photo and then hit send.

He then came round and joined Sully and I, noticing Sully had a look on his face.

"You know…" Sully started, pointing to the disk before him. "That kinda looks-"

"Hold on," interjected Nate, lightly pushing Sully out the way. I gave Sully a smile and he rolled his eyes. Nate then took out his journal and removed a few pages before placing one on the disk and making a pencil rubbing of it.

"What're you doing?" asked Sully confused. "You just took pictures."

Nate handed him the finished rubbing. "Hold that."

He then moved round to the next one and we followed. He then began doing the same thing to the next disk.

"Y'know, Avery's recruits wouldn't've had smartphones, obviously…" he began to explain.

"Obviously," concurred Sully as Nate handed me the second piece of paper.

"So this would've been the only way for them to get to the next clue," he continued.

Sully chuckled. "These are clues?"

Nate finished the final rubbing.

"Yeah, lemme see," he said, collecting the other two off us.

He then put them all together and you could see that the three made a map of sorts. "Voilà."

Sully and I laughed as Nate held it up a bit more so the light made it easier to see.

"All right, these could be trade winds…" said Sully, pointing to the paper. "Yeah, and these look like latitudes…"

"Yeah," agreed Nate.

"And I would guess that we are packing our bags again, boy-o," concluded Sully to which I sighed loudly.

Nate then got a look on his face, a look that said he'd just realised something Sully and I had not.

"What?" queried Sully, spotting the look too.

"Pro Deus quod licentia," said Nate, pointing to the Avery symbol we could see on the paper round which those tiny Latin words were written.

He then looked at us and we looked at him, I then looked at Sully and then back at Nate. I did not have a clue.

"No, no - it can't be," said Nate, backing away a little and turning.

We took a few steps after him.

"Can't be what?" asked Sully before I could.

"Oh my God. It's so obvious," continued Nate.

Not to me, I thought.

"Nate?" tried Sully, his tone asking him to explain.

Nate turned to us, but he still seemed to be in his own little world. "Why didn't I see this before?"

"Jesus, enough with the 'beautiful mind' shit," said Sully, his frustration starting to show. I heard a buzzing sound then, Sully's phone was ringing. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Just, just, hang on," he replied, seeming finally to be back with us, as he got out and answered Sully's phone.

"Sam. Did you get the photos?"

There was a pause at the other end and then I thought I could hear someone laughing, a cold shiver ran down my spine for some reason.

Nate had gone a little rigid. He then turned to look at us, and we could all tell from that look something was not right.

"Hey, Rafe."

Sully and I glanced at each other and then back at Nate.

"It's been a long time," Nate continued. "How'd you get this number? Sullivan leave it on a cocktail napkin?"

Again I thought I could hear laughing. We slowly began to walk towards the exit as Nate listened to 'angry man's' reply. I caught a few words as we walked. Something about paying top dollar to find us, well them, I doubt he knew about me.

"Yeah. Well, I hope you didn't spend too much on this whole Avery thing. I hear the competition's fierce."

We reached the heavy wooden doors and as Sully made to open one, Nate laughed.

"That sounds like a bet."

I made to move forward to help him, but Nate made a hand motion at me and moved to help Sully himself.

"Wow. Rafe Adler taking orders from somebody else."

The door open we headed for the stairs.

"Oh, how times have changed."

The lights along the corridor seemed to flicker nervously as if imitating how I was starting to feel.

"As tempting as that sounds, Rafe…I gotta say, I'm…not normally the kind of guy who likes to quit while he's ahead."

We started up the steps and with each one I was feeling the tinge of fear, I'd felt when I'd first heard that laugh down the phone, start to grow. Oh how I wished we were not about to find them up there waiting. As we neared the top Nate slowed his pace, coming to a complete stop. The look on his face suggested he was not so ahead as he had thought. We stopped and looked at him.

"You hacked our phones."

Sully shook his head and I tried to listen to see if I heard anything I should not above us. Suddenly the phone made a beeping noise and I jumped a little, but Sully placed a hand on my shoulder. Nate was glancing at the phone screen.

"Listen, as nice as it's been to catch up with you, I…really got to take this call so…"

 _"Well, Nate, one more thing- Nate!"_

"What?"

I watched Nate's face as the next words Rafe spoke made his eyes widen, I took this as a bad sign, a _very_ bad sign. He then glanced at his phone before looking again at us.

"Shit."

"Let me guess," said Sully. "Goons with guns on their way here now?"

I took a breath to calm myself as we crested the top of the stairs and started heading more quickly for the exit.

"Sam-" said Nate, now answering the other call.

I could see the hole we had entered through ahead.

"Sam, listen to me. Get off the streets right now. And destroy your phone."

Sully went first out the hole before turning to help me.

"Rafe knows where we are!"

Oh I could only imagine the great Sam Drake's reaction to those words and how his mind would now be concocting some fanciful way that resulted in me being responsible for Rafe knowing. Yep, right about now, he would be thinking: 'this is her doing!'

We walked up the steps together. "All right, you gotta find some place to hide."

Suddenly the sound of gun fire could be heard down the line.

"Sam? Sam!"

We looked at Nate as he sighed, I felt a pang of worry start up deep in my gut.

"Damn it," he said, before dropping the phone to the floor and stamping on it twice.

"Hey…!" exclaimed Sully and I gave Nate an odd look.

"I'll buy you a new one," responded Nate with a look.

Sully nodded somewhat begrudgingly and taking my arm, he pulled me towards the doorway we had entered the clock tower through. Nate followed. We went down the steps, into the other room with the depressed floor, across said depressed floor and to the door where we waited for Nate to catch up. The door was secured with a big wooden beam. I stepped out the way so Nate and Sully could remove it together. I felt my fear spike again; the likelihood of 'angry man' being on the other side with his goons felt rather high. The beam removed the two looked at each other.

"Okay," said Sully, he glanced back at me with a look that said stay behind us.

Then together…they pushed open the pair of doors.

* * *

There we go. Did we all enjoy that rather long chapter. I hope so, but if you fancy telling me so then feel free to press the review button and let me know. It makes me so happy when you do!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, you guys always manage to make me smile. To whitephoenix18, thanks and here's the next one, I hope you enjoy it. To Neon Jack, I do like the puzzles in Uncharted, but the sigil one and me really clicked and how Freya worked out the last one was exactly how I did it. I'm glad you enjoyed it and here's the next chapter.

Right, well here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. As usual there is some UC4 dialogue. So without further ado...enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

Nothing, nada. No men waiting with guns at the ready, just the market and a few people looking at us curiously due to the fact we had emerged from a place that I guessed maybe had never been opened. Nate ignored the looks and led the two of us over to the fenced edge to our left where you could look out across the city, all the way down to the bay.

"Sully, Freya…" he said, indicating us to follow him.

Having reached the fence Nate pointed to the tower that stood tall above the other buildings, not far from the bridge that crossed the bay. It reminded me of a lighthouse.

"I think that's Sam's tower," continued Nate, just before a explosion large enough to be seen from where we were went off.

The sound reaching our ears seconds later.

"Oh, that's definitely Sam's tower," remarked Sully.

Nate sighed.

"Come on," said Sully, taking a hold of Nate's left arm and pulling him slightly to encourage him. "This way."

Sully set off through the crowd in the market and we followed. I was worried for Sam, sure he had been annoying, judgemental and at times infuriating, but he was Nate's brother and right now it looked like he was in serious trouble.

"How long you think before Rafe gets here?" Nate asked as he carefully and quickly manoeuvred through the crowd after Sully.

Sully laughed. "Let's not stick around to find out."

I agreed, I really did not wish to be shot at again today, but knowing Nate's luck it was highly unlikely that we would get to the end of the day without it happening again.

Back past the food, down the steps past the shirts and down into the lower market we went. Sully stopped upon reaching the lower market to wait for us.

"Come on. Down here Nate, Freya!" he called as we jogged down the last few steps to join him.

Just as Nate dropped off the last step, gun fire started up causing me to half stumble down the steps that remained.

"Guys, watch out!" said Sully as all three of us now sprinted for the cover of the nearest stall.

"Shit," cursed Nate. "Everyone out the way!"

I so wished right then I had not been right. Stupid 'angry man' and his army of gun toting lunatics!

People were screaming and running for cover from what appeared to be several men. Sully and Nate took out their guns and started returning fire, while I crawled to the next nearest cover due to the fact that the one Nate and I were behind was been shot to pieces. I felt sorry for the stall owner, but right now it was far better the stall then the owner themselves.

Luckily for me, the gunmen seemed focused on Nate and Sully, but that did not stop me worrying for them. The two appeared to be trying to keep it that way, but as another bit of cover Nate was behind disintegrated he had to come my way. It was at that point, to top it all off, a huge four by four armoured vehicle appeared with a mounted gun and started firing upon us all.

"Whoa!" I heard Sully exclaim before adding. "You know, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but, I think they found us!"

I threw myself behind a meat stall that was more of a permanent structure while Nate went left with Sully. The vehicle was blocking the way and I knew we would not pass it alive. I shuffled along to my left while the gunfire concentrated on the others and looked ahead. The way was clear, but it was all open and I was pretty sure the vehicle would get us. I now looked the other way. There was a building, its doors open and I could just about see stairs. While horror movies had taught me never run upstairs, I was pretty sure they were not including: when been chased by a vehicle. Still, there seemed to be few other options.

Suddenly a hand on my shoulder made me jump, but it was only Nate.

"I'll draw it this way," said Nate, turning me around to him. "You and Sully make for that building over there."

I nodded, it seemed he and Sully had already worked out that was the way to go.

"Be careful," I replied and he smiled.

"Always am," he said and I gave him a look.

He then pushed me off and made his move. The vehicle followed Nate crashing through several stalls while we ran for the building, Sully shooting people left, right and centre. Yet there were too many and so I threw myself behind a monument thing while Sully continued to take people out. I then took a breath, seeing a clear path, and ran for it. I dived through the door and crashed onto the floor. The place was not empty however and as several bullets came a little to close for comfort I scrabbled across the floor and behind a counter.

I could hear the gunmen coming closer and both Nate and Sully were still held up. I was on my own. Not far from me though was a dead mercenary next to a pillar and he still had his gun. It looked like an AK-47 and while I doubted I would be any good with said weapon, it was better then nothing. I crawled rapidly for it, bullets whistling past, and grabbed it before getting back behind the counter.

Then with a breath for courage I stuck the gun over the top, aimed in roughly the direction they were and pulled the trigger. I felt it judder and kick as I blind fired, spraying the place side to side until the clip ran out. Part of me wished to stick my head out then and see if I had achieved anything, but the rest of me reminded me with images from films where people had done such things and then been shot in the head.

At that moment however Sully came in and, spotting me still behind the counter, made to grab me and pull me up. As I stood I now saw that the gun had indeed got its marks and rapidly looked away from the three dead or dying men that were sprawled on the floor.

"Up the stairs!" yelled Sully as Nate joined us and he pushed me forward.

Just then the vehicle reversed rapidly through the left side wall at the other end of room and fired, causing me to half slide to the edge of the banister. I then lunged myself ungracefully over it and onto the stairs, the other two careering round the pillar at the bottom of the banister and up the stairs behind me. Nate went past, putting himself first in case there were people ahead. At the top of the stairs was a sort of seating area.

"So, having fun yet?" asked Nate and I knew he was not speaking to me.

"Oh, a real blast!" replied Sully and I could not help but laugh.

Nate turned and headed for a pair of open doors that appeared to lead out onto some kind of roof terrace. Yet as he went through them, a man, who had clearly been waiting outside, suddenly grabbed him from behind. I swore and ran to help him, but found there was another man. I froze as he came at me with a gun, but then Sully appeared and tackled the second man, fighting him off. Nate broke free of the first man's grasp and punched him.

"Run! Go on, go!" he yelled at me and I did as I was told.

Across the terrace, past Sully and the second man, and up onto the roof. I was heading back towards the market. There was a gap between the roof I was on and the next roof and taking a run at it I leapt over, slipping a little on the other side. I continued, hearing the sounds of people following behind. I dared not turn and look, only hoping it was Sully and Nate. The fact I had yet to be shot in the back seemed to confirm for me it was likely them.

I now had to jump to the roof to my left and just as I did, the mounted gun of the vehicle below started firing, bullets peppering the metal and I felt unstable. Still I kept going up onto the next roof and round the corner only to find it blocked. I glanced around and then saw our jeep, still parked where we had left it. It was a bit of a jump, but I had nowhere else to go. I backed up and with fear pumping through my veins, I took a running jump.

I crashed rather painfully into the back of the front seats, half winding myself and likely sustaining multiple bruises, but I had made it. I heaved myself painfully into the front passenger seat and put my seat belt on as Nate crashed down behind me and nimbly jumped into the driver's seat. Sully was right behind him.

"You good?" asked Nate.

"Yep," I replied.

"Great," answered Sully. "Floor it!"

The tires screeched as Nate put his foot down, the jeep charging away as gun fire rattled behind us.

"All right, how do we get to Sam?" asked Nate as we shot through a stone archway and into the city streets.

"We just keep heading downhill," replied Sully as we lurched round a corner.

"Brilliant," said Nate, sarcasm lacing his words.

More gun fire came, but this time it was in front. I ducked down hoping today was not going to be the day I died.

"Nate, more of 'em!" called Sully as Nate made to drift round the corner where the gunmen were stood.

"Oh, shit!" he swore, misjudging the turn slightly and taking at least one out with the back end of the jeep while causing the other to dive out the way.

Yet he brought it back under control and we careered off down the hill. My stomach was far from enjoying the ride.

"Hang on!" yelled Nate as he made to turn for the next corner at speed.

"Oh, Christ!" replied Sully and I agreed as I felt myself pulled sharply to the right.

Then it was back to the left as Nate narrowly avoided hitting a stationary Volkswagen Beetle. Oh I was starting to feel sick.

"We need to keep heading downhill!" said Sully as we got beeped repeatedly at by another car that had just been about to pull out as we passed it.

Round another corner, the tires making noise, and through another arch, we came upon a poor person on a moped.

"Get outta the way!" hollered Nate, the person dived for the pavement as the jeep promptly smashed into the moped and continued careering downhill.

People were running for the pavement in all directions and then we spotted a stall on wheels in the middle of the road.

"Look out!" I yelled.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, careful!" called Sully, but there was nowhere to go but through it.

The jeep crashed on through, sending stuff flying everywhere, but we had no time to stop because just then the terrifying armoured vehicle came crashing into the street we were on from the right.

"Jesus!" exclaimed Sully as it started firing upon us. "Damn it! It's that goddamn truck again!"

"Oh, crap!" yelled Nate as he veered off to the left down a side street. "Look out!"

Another pedestrian almost obliterated as we careered onto another street.

"Please don't run anyone over!" said Sully, just as the stupid armoured vehicle reappeared up ahead.

"Sorry!" replied Nate as he swerved, drifting the car now all the way round and heading right towards another ally to avoid the vehicle's fire.

Smashing through chain link fences and straight across another road, narrowly avoiding being hit by another car, we ploughed through more chain link and a couple of wooden fences before swerving to the left. Down and right again as the vehicle again tried to get in front. Then it was across another road, a person diving out the way, as we bumped our way into another ally and slightly scraped the jeep on a wall as Nate tried to turn, but instead hit some boxes.

Off a ledge, through another arch and back onto the road as the vehicle once again got in front.

"God damn it!" snapped Sully. "We gotta shake that truck!"

"Working on it!" said Nate as he drove through several washing lines and into the street beyond.

"Hey, that was clean laundry!" said Sully as I glanced at the fact there were still items of said clothing clinging onto the jeep.

Nate bounced through another gap in between buildings, the jeep sliding about and what remained of the laundry flying off in all directions.

"They can wash it again!" snapped Nate back, coming so close to crashing into a wall I actually cringed in anticipation in my seat.

We hit some bins and continued, now just driving from side street to side street. Then as the armoured vehicle burst through a fence to our right, we swung to our left, heading down again. Right, then left and bouncing down some steps straight into a street market.

"Hang on!" yelled Nate as people screamed and leapt aside.

"Where the hell are you going?" asked Sully as I waved my hands at people to clear the street.

"You're the one who said 'just head down!'" retorted Nate as he drove through stalls and crashed down a long flight of steps.

The jeep leapt off the last steps and landed with a bump before charging through further stalls. Yet it was not over, for up ahead all I could see was more steps and more stalls, this had got to be the worst route Nate could have picked.

"Jesus!" yelled Sully.

"Coming through!" hollered Nate, pumping the horn as the jeep continued to career down through the street market.

"Oh this was really a great idea, Nate!" said Sully sarcastically.

"Do you wanna drive?" retorted Nate, whereupon I decided to refrain from commenting.

"No, you're doing just fine," responded Sully as we finally exited the street market via a large stone archway.

"See? I got it," remarked Nate, but he spoke too soon as the vehicle reappeared.

We had come out into a sort of square.

"Ah crap!" he yelled as he half drifted round the square between mini lorries and cars. "These guys just don't give up!"

He swung round in front of a small lorry and off the square into another street.

"Okay…Through here," he said, but ahead was a bus and it did not look as if it was going very fast.

Then the bus made to turn into another street, but it had not quite got the turn right and consequently came to a complete standstill.

"Whoa whoa, whoa, stop, stop, STOP!" cried Sully as all of us cringed in anticipation of hitting the bus.

A narrow miss. Nate turned just before the backend of the bus and up another side street.

"Damn stick shift," he said, shaking his head.

"Come on, come on, get outta here!" encouraged Sully as the armoured vehicle got stuck behind the bus.

"Okay.."

"Go!"

"Uh…" started Nate as the side street appeared to come to a dead end. Yet there appeared to be some sort of exit…through a building. "I'm just gonna…Cut through here!"

A man yelled as we smashed through what appeared to be a construction area, much to the disapproval of two men who also yelled at us from above, and back into the square.

"What am I supposed to do now?" asked Nate as the vehicle returned to fire upon us.

"Hey, up those stairs!" suggested Sully, pointing to the auditorium like set of stairs across the square in front of us.

We reached the bottom of said stairs.

"Here we go!" yelled Nate.

The jeep launched straight up the steps and off the top into the air, with all of us yelling, before crashing down on the grassy slope beyond.

"Man, Rafe really wants us out of the picture!" said Nate as we bumped out way down the rough hill.

"Gee, ya think?" remarked Sully, before my stomach dropped as we drove off a high ledge and thumped back onto the road.

"Yeah!" laughed Nate as more people ran out of the way. "I think we lost 'em!"

No, don't say that, I thought.

Down the road, round another corner with the tires screeching; god I felt sick.

"Hey Nate?" started Sully.

"Yeah?"

"We can never, ever come back to this city."

"Add it to the list."

"Ha!"

Round another corner and then another, the gradient felt like it was becoming steeper, but then the road ended.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Watch it!" exclaimed Sully as we came to a emergency stop causing me to almost throw up in my mouth.

"Really?" said Nate, unable to believe that workman were just digging up the whole road.

"Well you've got a four-by-four," said Sully, indicating to the muddy path that appeared to go round the roadworks. "Go around."

Nate turned the vehicle to the right and up we went.

"Hang on!" he said as the wheels spun a little, spraying mud everywhere.

"Sorry fellas," called Sully to the worried and complaining workmen. "First time driver here."

Up and over the several little muddy hills of the track we went and as we did the large digger's driver honked his horn at us in annoyance and I sunk down in my seat in response.

"Yeah, we'll be out of your way in a second," Sully called to him as we dropped back down onto the road.

"All right…" said Nate as we as we drove through a roadworks sign. "Let's see that truck get past that."

He had to say it didn't he. We had barely left the roadworks behind when out from the right careered that very truck, guns blazing.

"Oh, come on!" complained Nate.

Bullets flying, jeep swerving, then Sully spotted a way out.

"Cut right! Cut right!" he yelled.

Through a chain fence, we discovered it led to a steep downward slope. At the bottom of which there were wooden sheds or shacks as well as trees.

"Wait, wait!" yelled Sully now, but it was too late.

"Don't worry, I got this!" replied Nate to which I gave him a look as he just smashed straight through the sheds or shacks. They only led to more fences and then a rather worrying looking ramp like roof. "I got this. I got this!"

Off the ramp like roof we went, into the air.

"I don't got this!" yelled Nate as gravity now pulled us down toward a roof that was quite a bit below us.

I definitely shut my eyes. Bang! We bounced of that roof and continued going, crashing down more roofs until we landed on a bunch of cars all parked together like at a showroom. We wiggled our way off them and back onto solid ground, though how I had not thrown up by then was a mystery to me.

Across the road from us now, the slightly smoking tower that was Sam's loomed. Nate drove straight for it.

"Holy shit!" said Sully, though I was not sure if he was referring to what we had just done or the state of the tower.

We're close!" said Nate as we crested a muddy hill, the tower now on full display. "Keep an eye out for Sam!"

I could now see vehicles near the base of the tower.

"Hey! I think that's him," cried Sully, pointing to a man on a motorbike. "Right there!"

I could just about pick out the blue coloured shirt that I knew Sam had been wearing when he had left, fluttering out behind the man. I agreed with Sully, it was him. Plus the gun fire confirmed it.

"Hold on!" yelled Nate, suddenly swinging the jeep right, oh how I hated him at that moment.

"Whaddya think I've been doing?!" responded Sully.

Nate smashed through a wooden picket fence and set off down another slope. We could see Sam ahead, but the slope took us further down then we had expected.

"How do we get to him?" queried Nate as Sam went over a bridge.

"Damned if I know," replied Sully as we skied across a mixture of water and mud. "Just keep following that convoy."

That was easy said then done though. We followed the bridges, through a chain link fence and into a slightly damp and muddy river culvert as the road curved above us. The convoy then crossed another bridge up ahead.

"Man! You think they've sent enough goons after us?" asked Sully and I have to admit there seemed to be an unbelievable number just to take down three men.

Nate swung the jeep left just before the bridge.

"Well, we're still alive, so maybe not," he responded and I chuckled at that.

Under more small bridges, following the riverbed, we tried to keep up with the convoy. Then a sort of dam like structure appeared and Nate ramped up it, out of the river bed, through a fence and almost hit a stray chicken.

"Sorry about the chickens," called Sully as the rest proceeded to exit via the now broken fence.

Swinging round the chicken owner's house, we now headed up a windy, muddy track.

"Nate, we need to hurry," said Sully, having noticed the convoy was now out of sight.

"Come on, come on!" encouraged Nate to the jeep as it climbed the muddy track desperately.

Ahead sheep ran to get out of the way, before we crested the slope and found yet another drop down. Though admittedly far smaller then some of the previous ones. Onto some muddy flattish ground, the road reappeared on out left, as did the convoy.

"There they are!" said Sully pointing.

"You see any way to get to Sam?" asked Nate.

"Not yet, but we're running out of road, kid!" replied Sully and I could see exactly what he meant.

Up ahead I could see a large body of water.

"I know, I know!" said Nate as we sped through a smaller river, the water creating drag.

"Uh, Nate!" said Sully.

We were going at a considerable rate still, straight for the larger river. Nate continued without slowing, leaving the muddy ground now and driving onto what appeared to be a wooden peer.

"Nate!" said Sully again, I could hear the concern in his tone.

Nate looked at me suddenly. "Freya?"

I looked at him.

"Here! Take the wheel!"

"What?" I said, alarmed as he let go, forcing me to lunge for the wheel as he stood up in the seat.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" snapped Sully as Nate, having removed his grapple, started swinging it with every intention of catching onto the crane like winch structure of one of the vehicles chasing Sam above us.

I now manoeuvred myself around Nate and into the seat.

"Yep, probably!" he yelled as he succeeded and was whipped out of the jeep, through what remained of the end of the peer fence and off across the water, while I slammed on the breaks, only just bringing the jeep to a stop.

Sully and I then watched as Nate crashed into scaffolding, took a swim, dodged a boat and some other wooden structure, before reaching the other embankment and being dragged off through the mud and out of sight.

Having got out the jeep, I ran a hand through my hair, panic setting in, and looked to Sully for some sort of guidance.

"Now what?" I asked, walking up to the end of the peer and glancing down at the water. "We can't just leave him to rescue Sam all on his own from all those bloody mercenaries, right?"

"What can we do, lass?" he said, glancing out with a worried look across the water. "It's not like we can get to them. I'm afraid they're on their own."

"Oh, God!" I said, the worry for them building in me.

"Easy," he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "He's been in bad situations before."

"I know…it's just…I feel so useless."

Sully nodded, I knew he understood the feeling very well.

"Right," he said, turning back to the jeep. "We should head back to the motel. That's where they'll go once they've escaped."

"Okay," I nodded before I paused, a feeling rising in me.

"Lass?" he said, noticing I suddenly gone pale.

I raised a hand, the other covering my mouth, as I ran over to the edge of the peer and, grabbing my hair, threw up repeatedly. Groaning, the feeling slowly dissipating, I slumped down and glanced over the edge at the water below me, while trying to calm my insides. Sully came over and sympathetically rubbed my back.

"You want to drive?" he asked with a knowing look.

I nodded and took a minute to compose myself, before getting up and heading for the driver's seat.

The drive back was quiet and much less frantic, though the wind occasionally seemed to bring us sounds of what I thought could have been gunfire. I tried to avoid going near the route we had come down for fear the police might stop us, I was sure they would have definitely been called.

Sully said very little, I'm sure he was worrying, but he occasionally pointed out where he thought I should go. He had, after all, visited this city more then once and therefore knew his way around pretty well. Once again I was so glad he was with me.

Finally our detour ended as I reached streets I recognised. I had a photographic memory for directions and places and once I'd been somewhere once, it was difficult for me to get lost. So I had little trouble finding the Ikopa Motel again.

We drove through the entrance to the car park, but instead of parking in one of the allotted spaces, Sully advised I parked near a large red gate so that I was facing down the backstreet. Easier to make a quick getaway if needed according to him. I was pretty sure I was not meant to park there, but I was not about to argue. I sighed and rested my head on the steering wheel. I just wished we were all together again and the day was over. Sully gave my shoulder a squeeze and I looked at him.

"You alright?" he asked, concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm ok," I replied, giving him a smile.

"Okay, well you stay here," he said as he started to get out the jeep. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Sully?" I questioned, turning in my seat.

"Just stay," he said as he turned and instead of going to the motel, he disappeared off down the street.

So I waited, the minutes ticking by, occasionally glancing around and half expecting to see that armoured vehicle suddenly appear. Yet all was quiet, bar the taxi that pulled up after ten minutes and dropped a young couple off at the motel. I watched as they walked towards the entrance, presumably to go ask for a room, as the taxi drove on past me and headed down the street ahead. As I glanced back in its receding direction, I spotted Sully reappear and he gave me a friendly wave as he walked back up towards me.

I could see he was carrying something and upon reaching the car, he handed me an ice-lolly in a wrapper.

"I figured you'd like something," he said, unwrapping his own one. "After all we haven't eaten since breakfast."

"Cheers," I said as I carefully unwrapped it. "Though surely you didn't just go off to get me a ice lolly?"

He gave me a grin before reaching into his pocket and producing a couple of cigars. "You know me too well."

I smiled back and licked the lolly which I guess was meant to be lemon flavour, but I was not sure. It was already beginning to melt in the heat. I risked biting it, cringing as my teeth reacted, before I resorted to getting out the jeep to prevent anymore of the sticky liquid going all over the seats of the rental.

"Don't worry about that, lass," said Sully, noticing why I'd got out the car.

I laughed. "Ahh, but then you don't have to sit there."

"The kid's already covered in mud and god knows what," said Sully as he finished the lolly and made to chuck the stick away, before a look from me made him pocket it instead. He then took out a cigar. "He's not going to mind."

I smiled and then sighed, glancing down the street before me. Oh how I longed to see them coming up that road, laughing and joking.

"Hmm," I responded as Sully lit his cigar.

He blew out a plume of smoke away from my direction, as he knew I was not fond of it, and came and stood beside me. Then we leant against the car, enjoying each others silent company, and waited. It was all we could do.

* * *

There we go, did we like it? I know it was not as long as the last one. Anyway, I'm always interested to know what you all thought, so if you could kindly press that review button then I'd be grateful! :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to Mereryan, whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, each one brightened my day. To Mereryan, wait no more, the next chapter is here! To whitephoenix18, thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you like this one just as much. To Neon Jack, I'm happy you enjoyed it and hopefully you like this one too.

Right, so, here we are. Now next week's chapter will be coming a little earlier, most likely Thursday evening or possibly early Friday morning as I'm away on a long weekend next week. Anyway I hope you all enjoy this one and as usual there is some UC4 dialogue. So without further ado, read on...

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

An hour or so later found me pacing a little as Sully watched me. He could see now, with every passing minute, that my worry was rising.

"You worry more then I do," he said with a chuckle, causing me to stop and look at him.

I could see his concern and so I took a breath and joined him once more before giving him a weak smile.

"You guys worry me in general," I replied with a shake of my head. "I mean practically everything you all get involved with is dangerous."

"Well, risk does tend to come with the job. But, I mean, those few jobs you did with me weren't too bad were they?"

"No, but they were what you said they'd be."

"Fair enough, I guess."

"I still remember that first job the three of us did, that Nate had said would be a simple dinner and talking, which turned into being lost in six foot high grass in the jungles of India."

"You did choose to come along on that one," he reminded me.

"That was because I hoped I would see some wild tigers, but instead I got a tour of the wilds of India with Nate as my guide. I mean I barely knew him at the beginning, but wow, I knew him by the end!"

He laughed. "If I remember correctly the bugs enjoyed Nate's tour."

"Sure they did, they had a Freya buffet!"

"I thought you handled yourself pretty well back then. It was when we found out you were good with a rifle."

"Well, up until then I'd never had a reason to mention it, but it was the first time I killed anything with one."

"I know…but I was grateful."

"I know," I said as I found myself glancing down the street again.

Above us the first signs of the coming sunset were beginning to tint the few clouds that littered the sky. The night would soon be upon us and the only thing I could think about, aside from the brothers, was the fact that the ice lolly had barely filled me up. My stomach decided to remind me loudly and I saw a smile creep onto Sully's face.

"We'll go for food as soon as the other two get back," said Sully with a chuckle.

"If those two don't hurry up, then their gonna find a skeleton in my place," I remarked over my growling stomach.

Sully laughed and we went back to waiting.

Half an hour later it was dark and the street lights had come on, their warm glow softening the shadows around us. I was just about to start pacing again when the sound of an approaching motorbike reached my ears. Sully remained calm as I tensed, but I saw his right hand come to rest on his gun. It seemed neither of us were sure who to expect. Then through the entrance pillars came a red motorbike with two familiar faces and we both relaxed.

Sam gave us a nod while Nate waved and Sully returned the gesture as Sam pulled into the Ikopa's carpark. Immediately I started walking over as Nate got off the bike and before he could get two words out, I had grabbed him into a tight hug.

"Thank God you're alright," I said, not caring he was filthy and in need of a shower.

"Hey! Yeah I'm okay," he replied, returning the hug gently.

I let go and Sully chuckled as he came to join us.

"She's been worried," he said as I now turned to Sam and grabbed onto him, much to his seeming alarm as he raised his arms in the air. "Very worried."

His expression at my sudden and unexpected action must have been a picture because Nate and Sully burst out laughing. Sam after a minute awkwardly patted me on the back and I let go, giving him an slightly embarrassed smile.

"I'm glad your safe too," I said, meeting his eyes.

He nodded and then squinted at me, his right hand subconsciously moving to his chin. I knew what he was wondering.

"Oh this?" I said, pointing to the cut on my chin. "It's nothing, had a slight argument with a tower window sill. Always was a little accident prone."

He nodded again, his features unreadable, before he turned and glanced back the way the two had come.

"All right, I think the coast is clear," he said, causing us all to glance in that direction briefly.

Nate then pulled out his note book.

"Yeah. All right…" he started, opening the book and pulling out the rubbings he had made along with a pencil.

Resting them on the top of the journal, he lined the three up and showed them to Sam.

"Pro Deus quod licentia," read out Nate and Sam half laughed to himself with a look that said, like his brother, he knew what it was or was implying. "This looks like a simple cipher."

Nate stared at the rubbings before he began trying to work it out.

"For God and liberty," said Sam and I guessed that's what the Latin translated to. "It's their damn motto. All the 'paradise' references. I can't believe we missed it."

Missed what, I thought. I glanced round to see if Sully knew only to find he had moved away to finish his cigar and was now coming back over.

"See you two made it out okay," he remarked to which Nate glanced up from his deciphering to nod.

"Way better then okay," replied Sam with tone that caught my interest. "We found Libertalia."

Sam laughed and Nate grinned up at us. I felt sure I had heard that word before, but in relation to what I did not know. I felt confused and it appeared Sully had no clue what it was at all.

"Liber- Liber-what-ia?" he queried and the brothers just smiled.

"Libertalia," said Nate, as if that was supposed to clarify for the two of us what the other two were on about, but he continued. "Seems Avery founded the legendary pirate colony."

That was it, I thought, but other then that was what it was, I knew nothing else about it. Nate then turned and began walking back to his motel room leaving us three to follow.

"It's more of a pirate utopia really," explained Sam to Sully and I, his passion for the subject coming through in his tone.

"Okay," said Sully. "But what about the treasure?"

"See, as the story goes…" continued Sam, placing a hand on Sully's shoulder for a moment to stop him while he explained. So naturally, I stopped too, giving Sam an audience. "This place provided a safe haven for hundreds…maybe even thousands of pirates."

Nate had stopped ahead of us so we continued, still listening to Sam.

"And they shared everything. Property, resources…"

"Money?" queried Sully as we came to a stop again.

Sam grinned. "And they kept it all in one common treasury building."

"Okay. So…Where is this…Commie pirate sanctuary?"

"Right here," announced Nate, causing us all to turn to him. He turned to us and handed the journal, rubbings and a map to Sully while pointing to a spot on the map with a pencil. "That island. Just northeast of King's Bay."

Sully chuckled and Sam grinned as Nate turned away again and headed for his door. We followed and all I could think about was the likely mode of transport we might be using to get to this island. My motion sickness senses were tingling.

"And Rafe has a copy of this," said Sully, stirring me from my thoughts as Nate reached his door and took out his key.

"Yeah, well, by the time Rafe figures it out…" replied Nate, turning to us as he put the key in the lock. I could feel Sam's eyes move to me. "We'll be well on our way to Libertalia.

Nate unlocked the door.

"Tellin' ya-" he continued as he opened the door and entered with us following. "That treasure…is as good as ours- ssshit."

Nate came to a dramatic halt as realised his room was not empty and we all came to a slow halt behind him. I felt it right there and then, the impact of the train crash I had predicted, as I recognised the woman stood with her back to us. She was glancing over Nate's papers like she had not heard us enter, but I knew she had.

"How's the Malaysia job going, Nate?" she asked calmly before turning to look at him. "Seems like you're a hair off course."

Sully moved further into the room, while Sam seemed to be studying the wardrobe behind him before leaning against the wall next to it. I moved in between the two as Nate took a few steps towards Elena.

"Elena, it's…it's not what it looks like," said Nate, I could tell he was picking his words carefully.

"Really," she said, looking at a piece of paper. "Because what it looks like…is that you're searching for Henry Avery's buried treasure."

She put the paper down and turned now, moving to the bed where a few guns lay atop the covers.

"And given the Shoreline soldiers that are all over town…" she continued before picking up one of the hand guns. "I'd bet you're not the only ones looking for it."

"All right, well I…" started Nate, glancing back at Sully for a moment and then returning his gaze to Elena. "I guess it's kinda what it looks like. But, but I can explain. Look it's gonna sound crazy."

"Try me," said Elena, tossing the gun on the bed and facing her husband.

"Well, for starters, um…" he said before glancing at Sam and indicating to him. "This is Sam. Sam Drake. My brother."

Sam, for the first time since I'd met him, looked a little uneasy. He moved his right hand in a little wave at Elena.

"Hi," he added.

She looked at him, her face showed confusion, she then glanced back at Nate before sidestepping slightly and looking to Sully for clarification.

"I'm sorry," he said, confirming for her what Nate was saying was true.

She looked uneasy and began taking several steps back.

"I, I thought he had died in a Panamanian jail," explained Nate, causing me to glance towards Sam and then back at Nate.

That was new.

"I need to-" Elena started, raising her hand in a gesture that said she needed Nate to stop coming forward and give her space. He stopped.

"But I was obviously very wrong," continued Nate, indicating to Sam as Sully sat down and I looked at my shoes. "He's been stuck in there for fifteen years. And it's because of me. And the guy who broke him out wants a lot of money. And the only way we can pay off the debt is Avery's treasure."

Elena was leant on the chair by the desk and I could see the pain in her face as she listened. Then she blinked it all away and I could see it replaced by anger.

"But that's the good news, we found it!" said Nate as Elena nodded. "It's on an island just off the coast."

"Okay, just stop," she said, raising her hand again. She then looked him in the eye. "Was there…ever…a Malaysia job?"

I could not see Nate's face so I watched Elena's reading his.

"I…" said Nate finally and it told her everything she needed to know.

"Okay…" she said as she headed for the door.

"C'mon, c'mon, wait," said Nate, turning and moving after her, but she didn't stop. "Elena, wait!"

She stopped.

"I don't get you," she said with her back to him.

"Look," said Nate as she turned to him with pain in her eyes. "I wanted to tell you-"

"You know what, enough," she interjected.

"No, I wanted to!" retorted Nate. "But how could I?"

"I don't know, just say it?" she replied and I could not help but agree.

Nate huffed. "I had to protect you."

"That is bullshit, Nate. You just didn't have the nerve to face me. Again."

"I knew you would react like this," he tried, a hint of desperation in his tone.

She looked at him with an expression that said how else am I supposed to react.

"How would you react?" she replied. "You lied to me…for weeks. If you were killed, I…I wouldn't have even known about it. And now you have a brother?"

Nate's posture looked defeated.

"Who are you?" she said, her voice full of pain.

"Come on," said Nate, emotion in his own voice. "I'm me, C'mon, it's me."

He took a few steps towards her, but she backed up so he stopped again.

"It's different this time," he tried.

"Oh my God," responded Elena, she did not believe him.

"I have to save him," continued Nate. "I don't even care about the treasure."

But she knew better.

"The look on your face when you walked into this room…" she said, her eyes were glassy. "If you're done lying to me…then you should stop lying to yourself."

Nate hung his head and Elena could not take it anymore. She shook her head, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

"I got a plane to catch," she said, taking one last look at Nate. "You do what you have to do."

She then turned, opened the door and left, shutting it behind her. Nate just stood and watched her leave before, after a few moments, he turned and came back into the room.

"Hey…" started Sully, getting up while I looked between him, Nate and the door. "Hey, what are you doing? Go after her."

"We're not done, here," replied Nate as Sully approached him.

I stared, he could not be serious. Well, if he was not going to go after her, I was.

"Well, maybe we should be," I heard Sully say as I headed for the door.

Sam made to move to stop me, but I glared at him and he raised his hands in submission, allowing me to open the door.

"What are you saying?" I heard Nate ask.

"I'm saying maybe there's a smarter way to save Sam," replied Sully as I shut the door.

The evening was warm and filled with the sounds of the city. I glanced around, spotting Elena moving towards the entrance of the Ikopa's car park and I ran after her.

"Elena!" I called. "Elena, stop!"

She came to a halt and I could see the pain she was in. As I reached her, I placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her round and into my embrace.

"I'm sorry," I comforted, but she broke the hug and wiping her tears, she looked at me.

"What are you doing here, Freya?" she asked, her eyes were scrutinising me.

"Um, well, that's kind of a long story," I said, hating being put on the spot. To be fair, the last thing I wanted to do right there and then was make things worse and I figured that saying I had been forced to come along would do just that. "It wasn't exactly my idea to come here. More of a wrong place, wrong time sort of thing."

"Right," she said, a look on her face I was not sure of. "So what you're saying is…"

"I'm not trying to imply anything," I said rapidly. "But I did tell him he should tell you, as did Sully."

"And you didn't think to tell me yourself?"

"Um, well, I didn't think it was my place," I tried, attempting to keep the fact I had not been allowed to ring anyone out of the picture.

"You didn't think…as my friend…it was your place…to tell me my husband was risking his life?" she said slowly with a look.

That did make it sound bad. I sighed.

"It's been kinda difficult," I said, which I immediately regretted from the look on her face. "A little bit tense, you might say."

"Tense?"

"Well, his brother, Sam, he's been a bit…untrusting of me."

She gave me a look of 'are you serious?' and I felt like I was just digging a bigger hole. I could see she had had enough of explanations in general, but I could not let her just leave.

"Look, how about we go back to my room and have a cup of tea?" I tried and she sighed.

"I don't…I need some space," she said, turning away from me now.

"Don't leave like this," I said, worry in my tone. "I know this is not the first time he's done this, but if you leave now I feel you would regret it."

"What would you know about it?" she said with more venom then I'd expected. "What experience do you have in this area, Freya?"

"I…"

"None."

"Elena…"

"Just…leave it."

She turned and walked away from me as I heard a door shut somewhere behind me. I looked round to see Sully coming towards me and, from the look on his face, I could tell that he was also feeling hurt. Now what had happened, I wondered.

"Sully?" I queried, he paused his eyes meeting mine.

"Where is she?"

"Um, she went off that way. Told me she wanted to be alone."

"Some help you are," he muttered and headed off in the direction I'd pointed.

Great, well that's just great, I thought. With a sigh I headed over to the edge of the swimming pool and sat down. Taking my boots and socks off, I cautiously dipped a toe in before being satisfied enough with the temperature to relax my feet into the water. Behind me a door opened and shut again. I glanced around to find it was Sam, who walked a few feet from the door and then took out a cigarette and lit it. He glanced at me, whereupon I turned back around and glanced out at the water of the pool. Sam moved away to my left, towards the lit up building that was next to the poolside, but instead moved around the edge of the pool and sat down upon one of the deckchairs.

I moved my feet about in the water, it felt nice after the long day, but I was looking forward to a shower. My stomach chose that moment to grumble again and I guessed, after what had just happened, we were not going out to eat anymore. I would have to put up with the biscuits in my room and whatever else was in the minibar. I sighed and looked around. I wondered if Sully had managed to persuade Elena to stay. Would it change what was happening if he did, I was not sure. Part of me wanted to go find them, but after the way Elena had looked at me I wanted to give her some space.

Out of everyone here, she was the one I'd known the longest. We had first met when she came to do an interview about my books while I was at university. She had been inquisitive, but nice and I had opened up to her pretty well. It was probably what made her article so good and popular enough for her editor to ask her for a follow up article about a year later. By the time we met the second time, I had already met Sully at a few auctions and done a couple of jobs with him to repay him for an incident that had occurred at one of the said auctions. So when we got chatting in a break in the interview and she happened to mention her husband was Nathan Drake, I made a calculated guess it was the same one Sully knew. Turned out I was right, much to her surprise, and our friendship had only grown from there.

Now sitting on the side of the pool I felt just a twinge of uncertainty. I hated making people angry and seeing Elena's expression had made me nervous. I mean it was unlikely that it meant our six or so years of friendship had just gone down the drain, but still, that 'if only I had not said that' feeling would not go away.

I tried to take my mind off it by glancing around at my surroundings again. My eyes came to rest on Sam, who appeared to be lost in his own thoughts as he smoked what looked to be a second or maybe a third cigarette. I knew I needed to find out what was happening tomorrow and I doubted Nate would want to talk right now, so it would have to be Sam. Besides, I needed to thank him for saving me earlier as, in all the commotion, I had forgotten to say something.

Getting up and leaving my shoes and socks where they were, I made my way round to where he sat. I thought the light slap of my wet feet might draw his attention before I reached him, but he seemed lost too deep in thought to notice.

"Hey, Sam?" I said as I reached him. "Sam?"

He stirred, blinking slowly and looked up at me.

"Mmhmm?"

He looked tired and as if something was troubling him perhaps. I had known what I was going to say, but the look on his face caused something different to come out of my mouth.

"Are you ok?" I queried and his brow furrowed, before what I thought I had seen was buried and his expression became less readable.

"Fine," he replied simply.

"Oh, ok," I said, feeling a little awkward. "But just in case you were worrying or something, I don't think Nate's mad at you or blames you for what happened tonight."

He just looked at me and said nothing.

"Oh and Elena's lovely once you get to know her," I continued to keep the looming silence at bay a little longer. "I mean, I hope you will, assuming things don't well…you know."

"She'll get over it," commented Sam, putting out his cigarette and standing up, stretching as he did.

"Hmm, well I'm not quite so sure about that right at this moment," I said, glancing again towards the car park entrance where I thought now I could make out two people. "But hopefully…"

I paused, coughing and taking a step or two back as he lit another cigarette and exhaled. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Sorry, it irritates my lungs," I said, having got my coughing under control. "I've even choked on air before, would you believe it."

I laughed a little to myself, as he just nodded, though he did actually then try to make an effort to exhale away from me.

"Anyway, I actually wanted to check what is happening tomorrow," I said, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. "I assume I'm still going with you guys?"

He nodded and I tried not to sigh out loud.

"How are we getting there?"

"Probably hire a boat."

I felt the dread begin to build and I'm pretty sure it showed on my face.

"Not Sully's plane?"

"Victor's staying here."

"Oh," I said and my eyes found my toes, which looked extra pale in the moonlight. I took a breath and looked back up at him. "Right well, I better go and get a shower. Early start, I'm guessing."

I turned and began to walk back to my shoes as I spotted what looked to be Elena and Sully coming back towards the rooms. Seemed he had convinced her to stay for now. I paused as I remembered something I had forgotten to do once again and turned back to Sam who's gaze had returned to the pool.

"Oh and Sam?" I called, gaining his attention.

I moved back towards him.

"Thanks for saving me earlier," I said to which he responded with a look I was not sure on. "I know I wouldn't be here right now if it was not for you, so thanks."

"Hmm, well, I owed you, right?" he said before taking another drag of his cigarette.

"Yeah, I guess, but thank you none the less," I replied with a smile and behind me somewhere I heard Sully and Elena enter their rooms.

"You're welcome," he said, though it was quite quiet so I almost missed it.

"Right, well, night then," I said before turning to go and collect my shoes and socks with every intention of heading to my room.

As I picked them up he called my name and I swung round to look at him.

"You don't have to come tomorrow," he said while scratching the back of his neck.

"What?" I queried, not following.

"You can stay here."

"But I thought you said-"

"Well, now that I think about it. It's actually much easier, as Victor is staying here, if he keeps an eye on you. Less for Nathan and I to worry about that way."

"Um…right," I more or less mumbled, confused to the core of my being as to the reason for his sudden change of mind. "So I don't have to go with you tomorrow morning?"

"No."

"Ok…well, um, goodnight then," I said, beginning to walk slowly to my door.

"Night," he replied.

Then I stopped and turned one last time.

"Oh and be careful tomorrow. Keep each other safe, you hear me?"

"Will do."

"You better," I said and I could of sworn I heard him chuckle or maybe it was just the wind.

I then opened my door and headed into my room, before locking myself in. What on earth had just happened and what was the strange feeling I was getting. I shivered. Weird, I thought. Whatever had occurred, I had somehow got out of going on some horrid rocking boat and I was more then glad. Still, I knew I would worry about them, but there was nothing I could do about that.

I tossed my shoes on the floor, removed most of my dirty clothing and made my way to the bathroom before removing my underwear. Then I was in, pointing the showerhead away from me until the warm water started flowing. Oh how wonderful it was. Sure I had cuts that stung and I found bruises galore, but I was just happy to be clean, warm and most importantly, alive.

Once I was in my pyjamas, I raided the mini fridge, made a cup of tea and got comfy before turning the TV on and flicking through the channels until I found something watchable and understandable that was not CNN. Some film or other, looked like an action adventure, and although I had had enough of my own one of those that day, I was quite happy to watch someone else doing all the running and shooting and driving. It was almost relaxing.

When I finally settled for the night, I lay in bed wondering what was going to happen tomorrow. Things never did seem to run smoothly for Nate and I really hoped Elena would not give up on him. He was risking an awful lot to save Sam and all I could think about was that this Alcázar was likely to shoot them all and just take all the damn treasure. Why would such a man settle for half or however much they were planning on giving him.

Then, of course, there was 'angry man' a.k.a. Rafe and Nadine Ross with her Shoreline and they did not seem the sort of people to just give up either. The brothers were just as likely to be murdered by them as they were Alcázar, though judging by today, possibly even more likely. Nate and Sam were caught between a rock and a hard place and it did not sit well with me.

I sighed; there was nothing I could currently do to alleviate the situation. So I went to sleep, hoping against hope that nothing would go wrong and for once everything would work out for the good. It just had to.

* * *

There we go. What did we think? Now as I said at the beginning the next chapter will be early because I'm away next weekend, but I'm sure you all won't mind that. Anyway if you fancy letting me know what you thought then press that review button, I do so love hearing your thoughts. :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to Neon Jack for your review, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I feel for Elena too, hope you like this chapter.

Right, so I'm going on holiday next week so the next update of this story won't be until Thursday the 10th of May. Hope you guys can hold out until then. I hope you all enjoy this early chapter and if you fancy telling me what you thought I'm always happy to hear. So without further ado, read on dear readers...read on...

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

When the morning came it found me happily sprawled in bed. I lay there enjoying the fact that I could go back to sleep knowing nobody would be coming to wake me up again. Next door, on Sam's side, I could hear the shower going meaning he was up, but Sully's side was silent. I sighed and nodded off again only to awake to the sound of a door shutting. Footsteps made their way towards my door and slowly came to a halt before it. There was a pause before the person finally knocked. I had no urge to answer it immediately and subsequently they knocked again. As they did, another door opened and shut and I heard a murmured 'hey' from the second person as the first person knocked again.

"What are you doing?" said an accented voice I knew as I pushed the covers aside and sat on the edge of the bed. I then rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "I've already told her she doesn't have to come."

"Well you didn't tell _me_ you had," came the other's reply, whereupon I made my way to the door.

"I was just about to."

There was a sigh and I opened the door to Nate and Sam stood there ready to go. Nate looked rough and apologetic.

"Sorry for waking you," he said and I gave him a smile.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "How are you feeling?"

"Not great," he replied, he ran a hand through his hair. "Anyway, I was just going to say you don't have to come today, but it appears my brother has already done that."

"Yeah," I said. "He told me last night."

"Right, well, Sully will look after you, okay?" he said, picking up what he was taking with him.

It seemed they were leaving their main bags here.

"Ok, don't you need to inform him I'm staying here?" I asked, slightly confused.

"I told him last night," replied Nate, making my brow furrow even more.

"But I thought…" I looked at Sam who's eyes had suddenly found the floor.

"You thought what?" asked Nate, suddenly looking between Sam and me.

"Never mind, I must have interpreted it wrong," I said, now knowing that Sam had never changed his mind, he had just been messing with me. I wondered if he had originally planned to let me think I was still going all night, knowing his brother would tell me in the morning. Still, I did not want to cause more trouble. "Silly me."

"Okay," said Nate, though he still looked suspicious. "Well, we better get off."

I placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked at me.

"Just…take care out there ok?" I said, meeting his eyes before glancing to Sam. "Both of you."

Sam nodded, though he had a look on his face now that I was not sure of.

"We will," responded Nate and I removed my hand.

"And don't do anything I wouldn't do," I added with a grin.

"So that includes pretty much everything, meaning we should do nothing?" he said with a chuckle.

I liked making him smile. "Hey! I'll try anything once, well pretty much anything."

Nate laughed.

"Okay, okay, we will see you later," he said as they turned to leave.

"Laters," I replied before adding more quietly. "Stay safe."

I was not sure if he heard me, but Nate did do a silent backwards wave without turning after I said it, so maybe he did. I watched the two until they disappeared round the entrance pillar and into the car park. I heard the motor bike's engine start and listened to it as it left and receded into the distance. Then I shut the door and went back to bed.

When I woke again the clock read 10.02am. I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, wondering how the brothers were getting on. I hoped to God that 'angry man' was still figuring it out because they needed all the head start they could get.

Finally I got up and went for a shower before leaving my room and standing by the pool side. No one else was around and apart from the constant noise of people going about their day, it was pretty quiet for a city. I wondered if I should wait for Sully to appear or even go knock on his door, but after last night I was not quite so keen on the idea of bothering him. So I decided to go off and find my own breakfast.

I knew there were a few little cafés not too far from the motel, so I decided to head towards one of them. Sully had lent me some money the day we got here and I figured I had enough to cover a simple meal. Wondering down the little streets, I was reminded of all the times I had gone on holiday with my Grandmother. There was just something about being in a foreign place that fascinated me and gave me a little jolt of excitement that I could never explain. Yet I knew I could not get too excited, I had to make sure to note the surroundings as I passed them so I could find my way back. My photographic memory worked better if I made an effort to look around. It was great for not getting lost, but sometimes I wished I could have had that skill for books so I could have done better at school. You cannot have everything though.

I chose one of the little cafés and sat down at a table to look at one of the menus. A young woman, who looked only slightly younger then me, came over and took my order, which I only went for after making sure I could cover it, and then I was left to my own devices. I spent most of my time waiting people watching, it was interesting to watch others living their lives. Usually I lived vicariously through them, but today I just watched, pretty sure none were going through what I had been for the last few days. I laughed to myself as I wondered if they would like to be living vicariously through me. It was a strange notion to think about.

Once I'd eaten breakfast I figured I should head back just in case Sully had discovered my absence. He might be worried as to where I'd gone. So I began my slow meander back as a breeze ruffled my hair. I glanced up and noticed the sky was quite cloudy, but the sun was still currently out. I made a note though to check the TV for a weather forecast when I got back.

The streets were quite busy now and I kept my eye out for pickpockets, not that I really had much currently on me they could take. I thought I saw a soldier as I rounded one corner and made a sudden effort to study a shop front, but if it was one, he was gone when I checked two minutes later. I found myself quite relieved to be back as I headed through the entrance and towards the pool, yet I faltered a little when I saw a familiar figure waiting. He turned and the relief on his face made me relax a little.

"There you are," said Sully, coming over to me. "You had me worried, lass."

"Sorry," I said quietly. "I needed something to eat and I didn't want to disturb you…after everything."

He sighed and gave me a friendly smile.

"I'm sorry too," he said. "I shouldn't have said what I said. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course," I said with a small smile.

He then opened his arms and I gave him a hug.

"Right," he said as I let go. "Well if you've had something then I guess Elena and I will have to go and grab a bite by ourselves. Unless, of course, you want to join us?"

"Um, well…" I started, unsure. After all I did not want to anger Elena further and I feared my presence would only do that. "I think I'll just stay here. Watch some TV or something."

"Oh, okay, if you're sure," he said with a look.

"Yeah," I said, starting to head for my room, but I paused. "Sully?"

"Mmm?"

"I think I saw one of Shoreline wondering around, so just be aware."

"Right you are," he replied, moving to a door I guessed was where Elena was staying. "See you later."

I nodded and entered as he knocked so Elena would not have to see me. I moved over to my bed as I heard her answer and muffled voices before, after a silent pause, their footsteps receded away.

I flopped down on my bed and realised, in the time I'd been gone, someone had come in and made the bed. I got back up and checked the mini fridge to be sure, finding it restocked. Efficient, I thought. Then making myself a cup of tea, I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

I watched random channels for a bit. Various shows, mostly foreign, where I played guess what they were talking about or make it up, cartoons, more CNN and the end of some film involving some people running from something in the woods and explosions. It was after said weird film ended that the local news came on.

I had not been paying a huge amount of attention to whatever the lady presenting was saying, until the sound of gunfire caused me to swing round. There was very shaky footage of what looked like a vehicle haring through the streets along with a painfully familiar armoured car. There was also some shots of later vehicles and motorbikes along with explosions. At least none involved were recognisable, but still it made me feel a bit awkward that we had caused enough devastation and drawn enough attention to ourselves to get on the local news. Yes, ok, maybe it was more Rafe's fault then ours, but still, if it made the national news then there was part of me that felt it might be better to never go home, knowing what some of my family would think if they found out I was involved.

Finally the weather forecast came on and I tried to understand what they were saying. Were those just clouds or rain clouds, how bad was that wind, was it anywhere near where Nate and Sam were? Then I saw little lightening bolts and it did not fill me with hope. I found King's Bay and tried to make a guess as to where the brothers were. It looked like the storm would hit around four-ish, but I had no idea where that time would put Nate and Sam, and that was assuming the treasure was even on that island Nate had pointed to. Oh why did this have to happen now. Why could there not be a storm tomorrow or the day after. I sighed. Maybe it would not affect them, maybe they would be fine. Yet however much I tried I could not stop the worry that had begun to churn inside.

This was why, by the time Sully and Elena came back, I was pacing in my room. I felt I needed to tell them of the weather that may or may not affect the guys, but then again what could they do? Sully could not fly out if this weather was coming, not safely. I tried to calm myself, give the guys some time to find the treasure. Maybe they might even be back before it hits, yes that's it, no need to worry the others yet. They'll be back by then, I thought, at least I hoped so.

The hours passed and still no sign of the brothers. I risked a glance outside my door and while it had grown a little more cloudy, the sun was still out. I needed them to come back.

Sully knocked on my door around one o'clock with the offer of lunch. I tried to give him a smile but he could tell something was up, so he made a guess at what was bothering me.

"You know, Elena's not mad at you," he said gently and I met his gaze.

"She's not?" I queried, unsure.

"No lass," he said, shaking his head. "And I think she'd like to apologise if you would let her. It was just all too much for her last night, you know."

"I know it was," I replied quietly. "I…I already sort of forgave her for what she said."

"Oh, right," he said with a look.

"Yeah I just figured my presence was not improving her mood."

"What?" he said, now raising an eyebrow.

Sometimes I was awful at explaining myself.

"I just thought she wanted some space," I said and he seemed to accept that for want of a better answer.

"So are you coming for lunch with us?" he asked.

"Um…"

"She asked me to ask you," he said as if that would help with my indecision.

"Yeah, ok."

"Good," he said with a sigh and a shake of his head.

He made to head for Elena's door.

"Sully?" I said, having finally made my mind up.

"Yeah?"

"There's something I have to show you first."

By the time I'd found a channel with the weather on, there was a knock on the door of my room. Looking up and calling for them to enter, we found it was Elena. She looked a little pale and weary, but she gave me a small, unsure smile. I returned it.

"I was wondering what was taking so long," she said, looking between us.

"Freya wanted to show me something," replied Sully as I, having returned my gaze to the TV, began tapping my fingers impatiently waiting for it to show the weather forecast.

"Oh," she said, sounding like she had walking in on something she should not of and therefore causing me to turn.

"You should see it too," I said and she nodded and came to join us.

Finally they got to the part I wished them to see.

"That," I said, pointing at the screen.

The room grew quiet as we all watched the swirling fronts, clouds, rain and lightening that was coming later this afternoon. I knew the two were realising what I was saying and knew that, like me, they were unsure what to do about it.

"I'm not sure what we can do," said Sully finally. "Neither of them have a phone we can call."

I saw Elena's brow furrow and somewhere in me that confirmed my earlier thoughts as to that was how she had found us, and how she had found Nate was lying to her. Like Rafe she had used the GPS on his phone, it had seemed the most obvious answer. I understood why she looked confused and I decided to enlighten her.

"They got rid of them," I said to her and Sully glanced at me. "'Angry m'…Rafe and Shoreline was using the GPS in them to track us."

She nodded and then paused before looking at us.

"What about the boat radio?" she said and Sully nodded.

"Was just about to suggest that," he concurred.

"What are we waiting for then?" I said with a grin.

Grabbing an 'on the go' lunch we headed down to the docks to try and locate the person who had rented a boat to the brothers. It did not take us long to find the man who agreed, with a little persuasion from Sully, to let us use his radio to attempt to contact the two. We tried the channel that he assured us the boat's radio should be on, but after several attempts we got no reply from either Nate or Sam. We tried another channel Sully told us was for contacting boats from the mainland, but again we had no luck.

"Maybe they're away from the boat?" I suggested to Sully, Elena was stood next to me glancing out at the ocean. "They won't hear it right, if they're not on board."

"No," replied Sully as he tried again.

I glanced towards where the man who had rented the boat was stood eyeing us occasionally. I wondered if he was starting to regret lending his boat to the brothers.

"Or they've switched it off," said Elena, causing us to look at her.

"It's quite possible," agreed Sully. "Especially when they don't want to be found by Rafe."

I sighed and joined Elena looking out at the water.

"Either way," said Sully as he also joined us. "We can't get hold of them."

"Is that it?" I asked, looking between them. "Is there nothing else we can do?"

Both shook their heads. At that point it seemed they could not think of much else. So we went back to the motel, the wind already beginning to pick up.

I was back in my room when it actually started to rain. The sky had grown dark, as if night had come early, while the wind had steadily got stronger and finally the heavens had opened. Now the droplets drummed down almost as loud as the thunder that followed the various flashes of lightening. It was frighteningly beautiful and yet, for the first time in my life, I was not enjoying watching it out my window.

Nate and Sam had not returned. They were out there, somewhere, in this dangerous weather while I was safe, warm and dry. It made me feel awful, but what could I do. I was not the coastguard or some action hero from the movies, I was a simple writer and an occasional acquirer of palaeontological specimens for museums who got motion sick. Sully was right: some help I was.

I sat down on the bed and glanced around the room, my eyes coming to rest upon my waterproof jacket. Maybe there was something I could do. Nodding to myself, my mind made up, I grabbed it and put it on before heading out the door. The rain hit me in the face and the wind almost tore the hood off my head as I quickly made my way to Sully's door and knocked. It was not him who answered, however, as the door opened to reveal Elena. She gave me a small smile and let me in, shutting the door firmly behind me. Sully was sat on his bed sipping what looked to be a cup of coffee. He glanced at me as I approached removing my jacket and I saw his eyes try to read my face.

"We have to go after them," I said, folding my arms.

"Not in this weather, we can't," he replied as a flash of lightening appeared to affect the lights in the room, causing them to flicker.

"The storm's not going to last forever," I said, running a hand through my hair. "Can we not go as soon as it clears?"

Sully sighed and glanced at the floor before taking another sip of his coffee. Then he looked up at me.

"Okay."

I nodded and gave him a smile. I had one on board, now for the other.

"They got themselves into this mess," said Elena quietly, causing me to turn and look at her.

"And we can get them out of it, Elena," I replied. "That's what you guys do, is it not? All those stories you told me about: El Dorado, Shambhala and the others. In them you'd always go out of you way to help each other, even when one of you made mistakes. How is now any different?"

"He's done this too many times," she responded, though I could see the struggle that was going on within her.

"I know he has and I know that I couldn't possibly begin to have any idea what that feels like," I said, meeting her eyes. "But what I do know, is that if I'd had a chance to save my Mother, I would have done whatever it took to do so."

I could tell by the look on her face that she knew I was referring to what Nate was doing to save his brother and that I knew what I was talking about. Yet she also realised I was pointing out that here she had a chance to save Nate and she was letting her emotions get in the way of doing what was right.

Her internal struggle continued and she turned away from me and said nothing more. The room fell silent apart from the weather outside and getting no further, I put my coat back on.

"Right, I'll see you when the storm subsides," I said to Sully, who murmured in reply, though I noticed his eyes were on Elena and I wondered if he would actually come with me if Elena refused.

I had done what I could so, with one last look at them, I headed back out the door and made for my room.

Having once again raided my mini fridge, I tried to get some sleep while mother nature roared outside. When I did sleep, I dreamed of little boats caught on the waves while lightening flashed above them and Nate and Sam trying to vainly keep control of theirs. I saw Nate fall into the water and sink beneath the rough waves, Sam yelling his name. I saw the situation reverse and I saw their boat, with one or both of them on it, ram bow first into rocks. Then I saw waves lapping on a storm swept beach, carrying in pieces of drift wood and an unconscious or dead, I could not tell, Sam while Nate lay on a rock a little way away.

My imagination provided such realistic dreams that I found when I woke after one there were actual tears running down my cheeks while outside the storm continued. Yet I did eventually get some well needed rest and when I woke early the next morning there was pale sunlight coming through the window. So I was up and straight into the shower before getting ready and ensuring I had everything I might need. Then I headed out my door to go knock once more on Sully's. He appeared, dressed and ready, and as he joined me the door belonging to Elena opened.

She gave me a small smile and I could tell from her attire and the rucksack she was carrying that she was coming with us. I was glad, though I was not sure whether it was because she had made up her own mind, Sully had said something after I'd left or whether it was due to what I'd said. Right then, to me, it did not matter. What mattered was the three of us were heading off to save Nate and Sam and that was what was important.

* * *

There we go. Did we enjoy that? Well as I said at the beginning, the next chapter won't be posted until the 10th of May and I don't think I've left you on much of a cliff-hanger so I'm sure you can wait. If you could kindly hit that review button I would be grateful. :)


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, it's always nice to see them. To whitephoenix18, thanks, here is the next one, enjoy. To Neon Jack, I'm glad you enjoyed it, hope you enjoy this one.

Okay, so I know you all had a bit of a wait, but here is the next chapter. The next, rather then on Saturday as it's a bit soon, will be posted on Saturday the 19th. I hope you all enjoy this one...so read on dear reader...read on...

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

We took the jeep down to the pier and transferred our stuff, including my rifle in its case, onto Sully's plane. Once we were ready, which did not take long, we cast off and Sully took us out to sea. I felt my stomach lurch, but thankfully Sully got us into the air quite quickly.

Elena was sat in the cockpit with Sully while I was seated in what had been Sam's seat originally. As Sully levelled the plane off he turned in his seat and called me. I carefully undid my seatbelt and moved to stand behind them in the cockpit doorway. Sully then pulled out a copy of the map Nate had had yesterday and began to rearrange it until it showed the part he wanted us to see.

"Would you agree, these are the islands Nate pointed out yesterday?" he asked, glancing at me.

I bent down and looked at it, feeling both Sully's and Elena's gaze upon me. I could not be one hundred percent sure, but it looked pretty like the ones he had indicated too. If only my photographic memory worked on more then just physical locations. I straightened up and tried to force the image into my mind, what it had looked like. Eggs…an eight maybe…with a gun…yes, the two islands had looked like an eight near some others, that looked a bit like a handgun.

"Yeah," I said finally, looking at the two, before pointing at the eight-like pair of islands. "Looks like the right ones to me."

"Good," he said with a smile, handing the map to Elena. "I was hoping you would say that."

He turned the plane in the heading that he had worked out and I sat back down.

It took about an hour and bit to reach the pair of islands and during that time, Sully started explaining the whole escapade to Elena. He left nothing out, including how I had ended up being pretty much dragged on the journey, but he still had not finished by the time the islands we were looking for came into sight.

Almost immediately we recognised we had the right ones, evident by the giant, stone pirate statue and crumbling tower. Elena pointed out that the statue, which was holding what I guessed was a telescope up, appeared to be looking out in a specific direction and we all agreed we needed to land and check it out. So Sully brought the plane down between the two islands and got us as close as he could to the beach. Elena and I got off and made our way quickly across the pale sand of the tropical island, up the rocks and onto the low lying vegetation.

To my right there was a large rock which I climbed up on to take a better look at the statue, while Elena continued towards the beach that was on the other side. I have to say I'm always impressed by ancient structures and statues, not only are they amazing to look at, but the mind boggles at how they built them. As I was staring, Elena walked in front of my view.

"You know you can see it better up here right?" she said, looking down at me.

"Oh, good," I replied, jumping down off the rock.

Continuing in the same direction she had, I found the rock face to my left ended and became a rocky ledge. Hopping up onto the ledge I could now see the set of stone steps that had been carved into the rock and that Elena was stood upon them. I followed her up them, being careful not to trip, coming to a halt at the top upon the platform of rock. We both gazed up at the statue now and I could see I had been right; the statue was holding a telescope.

"I guess we need to get up there, right?" I queried as Elena glanced around the base of the statue.

"Yep," she replied with a nod.

I looked about and noticed a second set of stone steps.

"I think we go up there," I continued, pointing.

"That was my thinking as well," she said and I started to head towards the steps. "Freya, wait."

I turned and looked at her.

"I'm sorry," she said simply.

"For what…?" I started and then one look at her expression and I answered my own question. "Oh, well, I actually already forgave you for that."

She looked at me.

"But I suppose I haven't said it to your face, so…" I said, feeling a little awkward. "I forgive you, Elena. So are we good?"

"We're good," she said and we gave each other a quick hug. She then broke it and looked at me. "Right."

I grinned. "Shall we?"

We jogged up the steps to the next platform of rock which was almost level with the pirate statue's jacket coat tails. There were a couple of steps up to the statue, but in no way did they allow you to reach the few steps that appeared to be carved out of or into the pirate's shoulder. I guessed there had once been more steps in-between which would have connected the two sets, but they had clearly been eroded away.

"I can give you a leg up, I think," I said to Elena as I glanced up at the unreachable steps.

They appeared to allow you to use the telescope which I had now noticed the pirate did not have up to his eye.

"Or the other way around?" she suggested, but I shook my head.

"No, I think it would be better if you look," I said, not trusting myself to balance or manage to pull myself up. "You're more used to this…stuff."

She laughed. "Okay, but don't say I didn't offer."

I interlocked my fingers to make a platform for her foot and once she was sure I was ready, she put her foot upon it. After a slightly wobbly start, I managed to raise her up enough that she got a hold on the steps and heaved herself up. I was quite glad it had been her who had gone up, as my imagination had started providing vivid images of me losing my balance and falling sideways and back down to the base of the statue. I shivered at the thought.

"I can see another island," she informed me before I could actually ask her.

"You think that's where they went?" I asked as she finished looking.

"Pretty positive," she replied before carefully jumping down.

"You think they'll still be there?" I asked, glancing out at the horizon which the telescope was pointed towards.

"Only one way to find out," she said, putting a hand on my shoulder as she sensed my worry.

I looked at her and nodded. "Let's go."

Once we were back on the plane, we told Sully where we were going and he got us back into the air. We had a look on the map to see if it had the actual island Elena had seen, but I guessed it was possibly too small to appear. That had to be it, I thought, as the idea it could actually be undiscovered seemed ludicrous to me.

Sully continued his tale to Elena over the forty five or so minutes it took to get to the next island. It was the first time I had had all the facts laid out for me and it made me realised I done a pretty good job of deducing what was going on. Elena listened quietly, mostly keeping her thoughts and opinions to herself. I wondered what she was thinking and whether or not, with the knowledge she now had, she would forgive Nate. I hoped so, but I doubted it would be simple for the two.

The flight had more turbulence then I would have liked, but upon reaching the island we spotted that not only was it the right one, but that Nate and Sam were not alone there. A number of boats had found harbour at the island and we guessed they were likely and unfortunately Shoreline. More worryingly still were the plumes of smoke that were coming from what I guessed was a still smouldering wreck of a boat. I preyed it was not Nate and Sam's boat, but there was no way to be sure.

Sully flew over the island, circling it as low as he dared. The foliage was too thick, however, to have any chance of spotting Nate or Sam or even anyone in fact, but we did get an aerial view of what appeared to be some buildings. Libertalia, the fabled pirate colony, and yet it seemed a little less impressive then I thought it would be, at least from the air. We all took a good look at it before we were distracted by what looked to be muzzle fire and maybe an explosion.

"We need to get down there," said Elena and I could hear the worry in her voice now.

"I'll get you as close as I can," said Sully as he searched for somewhere to land.

I made to head into the back of the plane when Elena grabbed my arm.

"I want you to stay on the plane with Sully," she said, looking me in the eye.

I shook my head. "I can't let you do this on your own. It's too dangerous."

She smiled at me; appreciating how much I cared, but I knew she was not going to let me come. She stood up now and moved us into the rear of the plane.

"Look, at least take Sully with you then," I tried, looking to him and back at her.

"He needs to stay with the plane-" she started to reply, but I interjected.

"I can stay with the plane. I can guard it."

"I'm sure you can, lass," said Sully from the cockpit. "But if we need to make a quick getaway…"

I sighed. "Then we need you to fly it."

"Got it in one," said Elena, squeezing my arm.

"You do know I can fly a plane, right?" I said slightly grumpily.

"Yes," said Elena with a quick side glance at Sully. "But can you fly it as well as-"

She did not need to finish the sentence.

"Probably not," I huffed. I looked at her with worry on my features. "Are you sure you won't let me come. I mean, I know I'm not exactly combat ready or anything but I could serve as a distraction or something you know."

"I appreciate the offer but I need you here," she said and my brow furrowed so she added. "Sully needs you here."

"If we get into trouble, Freya," he said, using my name to show he was serious. "I'll be grateful to know you've got my back."

I looked in his direction before glancing at the floor.

"And what if _you_ get into trouble?" I said quietly and she gently took hold of my chin and raised my face to hers.

"Then I'll know who's coming after me," she said before pulling me into a hug.

I hugged her back, not wanting to let her go, but Sully told us to take our seats as he was coming into land. It was a little bumpy, but we were down and Elena was out of her seat and ensuring she had all she needed. Then leaving her rucksack where it was, she made to open the door. Sully came to help her do so and told her to watch herself out there. She smiled at us both and nodded.

"Bring them back safe, Elena," I said and Sully nodded. "Both of them."

She nodded and with one last look, she was out the plane and off onto the island. We watched her head quickly away into the jungle, heading for the sounds of gunfire. I prayed she would be alright.

Sully then shut the door and headed back to the cockpit. I followed slowly after him.

As I sat down in the co-pilot's seat Sully glanced at me.

"You sure you want to have Sam back after everything?"

I half laughed before shaking my head. "Of course I do. He's not…he's not that bad."

Sully laughed. "I should tell him that when they get back."

"You wouldn't dare!" I said, feigning worry.

"You'll just have to wait and see won't you," he said and I shook my head at him.

He had eased a little of the tension I felt, but the worry remained. I only hoped that Elena would reach the brothers in time.

We had been sat around waiting for a good while - my stomach all the while regretting more and more that I had stayed on the rocking plane - when Elena came through on the radio she had taken with her. She told us she had acquired a jeep and she was gaining on the shoot out. She had a rough idea of where they were as she had overheard some of Nadine's men talking and she figured she would reach them soon.

This was the sign that it was time we got into the air again and I cannot describe how grateful I felt. No more rocking plane. So seated and belted, Sully took off again, keeping as low an altitude as he dared. I spent my time constantly looking out, trying, pretty much in vain, to spot the brothers or Shoreline. At one point I thought I saw some Shoreline folk and Sully gained altitude just in case they decided to shoot at us. When they did not fire so much as a single shot, however, I started to doubt whether I had actually seen anyone at all.

It was only at the point I was really starting to feel rather useless that something actually happened. There was a massive explosion, the sound reverberating through the air, and as I tried to see where it had come from it was followed by a second one.

"You hear that?" came Elena's voice over the radio.

"Sure do," responded Sully as yet another explosion went off.

"Do you see where it's coming from?" she asked now, a fourth explosion almost obliterating her words. "I know it's not far away, but I'm not entirely sure on the direction."

Sully looked at me, but I could not see it from my seat. I got up and went into the back of the plane. I scanned out the windows in the back, my sharp eyes searching. Then I did a double take, was that smoke I could see above the trees. I squinted, yes, there looked to be a tall, tower like building perhaps, that was possibly on fire.

"Off to our...," I started, but I paused as I looked down at my hands to ensure I did not make a mistake. "Right. I think I see something smoking. I-"

I saw a sudden flash of fire just before another explosion sounded and I knew then that was the place.

"No, definitely over on our right," I informed Sully now as another explosion came. "Big tower like building. That's got to be where they are. Though I'm not sure for how much longer it will be standing. Jesus, Shoreline has some firepower!"

I could not believe that the ancient, pirate built tower was still withstanding the apparent bombardment.

"You get that?" I heard Sully say as I approached the cockpit, just as he turned the plane. "Big smoking tower, probably a watchtower."

"Rodger that," she responded and I heard her shift up a gear as she did before the radio went silent.

Sully and I could see the tower now, but it was only for a few moments. Another massive explosion slammed the building and the tower lost its fight. It began to fall, tipping sideways, and I found there was something about it that left me feeling rather poignant. It was as if the tower was the last lonely sentinel of some ancient war and this had been its valiant last stand and it had lost. I felt a sense of loss, but it was then replaced by worry. What if Sam and Nate had still been in that building when it went down and all this was for nothing. No, I could not think like that.

Sully diverted the plane away from the destruction partly due to the smoke and debris that were rising into the air, but also so that the mercenaries would not turn their RPGs on the plane. I moved again from my seat to the back of the plane and tried to see what was happening. It was difficult though due to the angle of the plane, the smoke and the foliage blocking my line of sight. I thought I spotted gun fire and a couple of smaller explosions. Maybe the brothers were still alive then, I thought, otherwise what were they shooting at? Elena perhaps. I swung round to Sully.

"Can you get Elena on the radio?" I asked.

"Sure, lass" he replied. "Any reason why?"

"I need to check something," I responded.

I heard him pick the radio up and call Elena. A few moments of slightly worrying silence and then her voice came through along with a sort of ticking noise. He asked her if she was ok and she responded that she was fine and that she had seen the tower fall. Her response did not sound under pressure, but the ticking noise could be gunfire.

"Is she being shot at?" I asked and Sully relayed my question.

"No," came her answer and I smiled.

It meant that at least one if not both the brothers were still alive. It gave me hope.

"Anything else?" asked Sully as I came again to join him again in the cockpit. I shook my head. "They'll be alright."

"Yeah," I nodded, it's what we all were hoping.

Minutes ticked by, each one feeling almost like an eternity. I wondered what was going on, no, I needed to know what was going on and not knowing was causing my worry to surge. Then Elena's voice came over the radio. Her usually calm tone replaced by one of panic. Her words were a little unclear, something about someone falling, maybe one of the brothers. I looked to Sully as he asked her to repeat, but the radio went silent.

Sully circled the plane and I scanned for anything, foliage, buildings, cliffs, more blooming foliage. Then her voice came back to us.

"I see him, oh God," she said and we could hear her get out the vehicle. I assumed she meant Nate. "Got to find a way down, give me a sec."

We waited with bated breath and I felt a pain building in my chest. I could take it no longer and I reached for the radio in Sully's hand, but Elena beat me to it.

"He's alive," she said plain and simple. She knew it's what we needed to hear, what she needed to hear herself say. "Unconscious but alive."

The relief in that cockpit was palpable and I felt my breathing return to normal. The radio then went silent and while it made me, and I'm sure Sully, feel a little uneasy, we were sure Elena was now putting all her concentration into sorting out Nate.

I glanced at Sully, trying to read how he was feeling and when I could not get much out his features I went ahead and outright asked.

"You ok?"

He sighed, smiled and shook his head as if unable to believe that somehow, once again, Nate had survived. He then looked at me.

"I'm ok, lass," he said quietly. "Don't know how the kid does it but somehow he does."

I laughed. "I swear he has the luck of a cat. The amount of near death experiences that man has had."

"Yeah, but he's not quite out of the woods yet," replied Sully, glancing out the front of the plane.

"Nope, but I'm sure Elena will fix him right up," I said with a nod.

"Yeah," he replied.

I opened my mouth to say something else, but then I paused as I found something gnawed at me. She had mentioned Nate, but not Sam. Was Sam not with him? If not, where was he? I shook my head, nope; had to keep those thoughts out of my head. If Sully had noticed my expression he said nothing of it, but I think he was too lost in his own thoughts.

A comfortable silence fell over us, well as comfortable as it could be with the current situation unfolding out below us. Our friends were somewhere deep in the sprawling jungle along with a rich mad man and his trigger happy hired army. Nate was possibly injured, Elena was maybe alone with only him as possible back up, Sam was unaccounted for so far and it was not looking good. Nate might have had luck in the past and clearly still had some left, but how long would it be before it ran out and he put us all in danger? How long before he or a loved one paid the price? I hoped beyond everything that today was not the day.

* * *

There we go. I hope you all enjoyed it, the next chapter should be longer. As I said it will be up on the 19th. Anyway, if you fancy telling me what you thought then I would love it if you would press that review button! Thanks! :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to Neon Jack for your review, hope you like this one too.

Oh and although it has nothing to do with this story, I wish Prince Harry and Meghan happiness on their wedding day today! Not that they're likely ever to see this, but what the heck, I wish them happiness anyway!

Ok, so here is the next chapter. I shall be interested to see what you all think of it. There is some UC4 dialogue in this one...oh yes it's back! I hope you all enjoy it and so off you go...read on and enjoy...

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

We had been waiting for what seemed like an age, flying in slow circles, when Elena's voice finally came back through to us on the radio. It was as if I'd been dying of thirst and her voice was a glass of long awaited water.

"Come in, Sully."

"Hey, darlin'," he replied as I looked up. "How's he doing?"

"Oh you know, he's banged up, but he's alive. Par for the course. Now we just need to rescue the other Drake."

I felt my heart, to my surprise, skip a beat. Sully glanced at me.

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

"I'll let Nate tell you," she replied.

There was a pause as she passed the radio over.

"Hey, pal. Glad you could join us," came Nate's voice and I could hear his apology in his tone.

It was just good to hear him.

"Yeah, wouldn't miss it," said Sully.

"Yep, apparently you and me both," I added.

"Freya?" queried Nate, his tone sounding slightly surprised.

"Hey Nate," I answered. "It seems you can't get rid of me that easily."

He chuckled weakly.

"So what happened to Sam?" asked Sully, getting to what was important.

"Rafe's got him," he replied and my blood went cold.

"Shit. You know where they are?"

"Uh, yeah," said Nate. "They're headed to the northern side of the island."

Immediately I started working out where we were heading.

"See if you can find a place to set down over there," he continued. "Once we get Sam, we're going to need to get outta here pretty quick."

"Copy that," replied Sully, though I saw slight confusion on his face. "Hey, hey…What about the treasure?"

"Forget it," replied Nate, causing my brow to furrow as well. "We don't need it."

"But Alcázar-?"

"No. There is no Alcázar," said Nate. "It's all bullshit."

Sully glanced at me and I met his eyes before turning away.

"Wait. You mean…the debt, the…the escape?"

"Yeah. Sam made it all up," answered Nate.

Sully sighed, yet something about it made sense to me.

"What an asshole, right?" continued Nate. "Look, I'll fill you both in on everything when I see you, ok?"

"Yeah. We can't wait," replied Sully. "Look, you two be safe down there."

"You know us," said Nate.

The radio went silent and Sully sighed again. We sat in a reasonably comfortable silence as he turned the plane northwards. My mind was racing: Sam had lied, lied to us, but even more so to his little brother. I wondered why? What was the truth in this? He surely had to have a good reason, did he not?

Then there was me, where did I fit into all of this? Why had he been so suspicious of me, so adamant that I was working for angry man? Then there was that look he had given me when we had been wondering around the wilds of Madagascar in the jeep. His seeming unease of mentioning Alcázar's name in front of me. At the time it had made no sense and yet now, knowing Alcázar was a lie, it felt like he believed I would have seen through his lie at the very mention of the man's name. It made me wonder if maybe Rafe and the Alcázar lie were linked somehow. Or maybe I was just making connections out of nothing.

Questions with no answers were flying through my mind, along, once more, with the inkling I knew this Alcázar's name from somewhere. It still would not come to me and I wondered if Nate's explanation would jog my memory.

I sighed and looked out the window at the vegetation passing far below. Then Sully tapped me on the shoulder and pointed. I looked at where he was pointing and saw several Shoreline vehicles, travelling along like a snake, all heading north. We were pretty sure it was likely Rafe and Nadine, which meant Sam had to be with them. Yet there was nothing we could do. The plane was not armed with guns, not that would help much if Sam was down there, and while I was not a bad shot, you could even probably say I was decent, I doubted I would hit anything trying to aim out of a moving plane. We flew on, keeping our northerly heading, until we spotted what appeared to be some large mansion like buildings sticking out of the jungle. More Libertalia, but these somehow looked more impressive then the previous buildings.

"You think that's where Rafe's taking Sam?" I asked.

"Probably," he replied. "I don't see any other significant structures. Do you?"

I shook my head before looking out the window again. I was worried and Sully knew it. He picked up the radio.

"Hey. Elena? Nate?" called Sully into the mouthpiece.

"We're here, Sully," said Elena's voice. "Where are you?"

"Still in the air," he replied. "Saw a bunch of Shoreline vehicles heading north."

"I guess we'll see them soon," she said.

"You two doing okay so far?" he asked.

"We hit a few hitches but…so far so good," she answered, I could just about hear the engine rumbling in the background.

"All right, good," he said with a nod. "Keep in touch, will ya? I'm not the 'no news is good news' type and you know what Freya is like."

"We'll try," she said. "Over and out."

I glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "What Freya is like?"

He smiled as he adjusted the plane's course slightly.

"Ain't no denying it, lass," he said.

I half laughed and sighed.

"Fine, whatever," I replied and he chuckled.

The radio was silent. It had been silent for too long. Sully and I had had enough. Upon reaching the north coast of the island, we had begun a full turn so we could fly along the coast itself when we spotted what appeared to be a graveyard of ships in a cove of sorts. They were beautiful in a sad sort of way, broken but proud; some still holding their masts up high while their hulls lay beached or half sunk. I had always been a fan of the original sail ships, the brigs, brigantines, sloops, the speedy clippers and the mighty galleons to name a few. So it seemed especially poignant to me.

The ships were all bunched together and I wondered what had occurred that had resulted in the destruction below. It had to have been something bad and the sight made my concern grow even more for our friends. What had happened on that island? What was happening now? We had to find out.

Sully and I now searched for somewhere to land and once Sully had made his decision, he brought us smoothly down onto the water. The place he had chosen appeared to have originally been a dock: a wooden walkway stuck out into the water and to the left of it, leaning to one side, was another one of the ships. Like the rest it was no longer fit to sail, but I could not help feeling the excitement rise within me at seeing it so close. Sully pulled up to the wooden walkway before switching the engine off and getting quickly out his seat. I followed him to the door and out onto the wooden dock. It seemed sturdy enough, but I was not about to test it as I had no urge to end up in the sea right there and then.

He tied her off while I stood and watched. I did not know how to start, let alone tie, the proper knots and it was not like Sully had the time right now to teach me. I stayed out the way until he was finished whereupon he gave me a signal to get ready. I grabbed the rifle's case and began quickly setting it up, while Sully got his own gun. I knew I probably should have been doing that while he tied the plane up, but my mind had just not thought of it. He waited, amazingly patiently, for a few moments on the wooden dock for me to be ready and then as I came to the door, rifle slung over my shoulder, I could see his face suggest he was having second thoughts about me coming. I paused watching him for a moment before I spoke.

"You want me to stay with the plane?" I asked as he sighed.

Then he looked at me before waving his hand in dismissal.

"No," he said, indicating me out so he could lock up the plane. "Come on, let's get moving."

I nodded and with the plane locked up, we set off along the dock.

It led to the dock front which stretched away off to the west, the direction we figured we should be going, but upon walking that way we found that through a combination of the sea and time it came to a dead end, surrounded by cliff and high stone walls. That left us with the stone stairs that were back near the dock we had started at. As we turned and began to head back, there was a loud explosion behind us. I guessed it to have come from back where the ship graveyard was. Sully and I looked at each other before setting off at a light jog back to the steps.

The steps led to a sort of terrace area that in turn led to more steps and terraces, along with the occasional stone building, that seemed to make up the little port. Upon cresting the last pair of steps we were greeted with a small communal space, I guessed, that was surrounded by little stone buildings. Age and many years of abandonment showed: grass and plant life grew between what had once been a cobbled street perhaps, roofs and walls of buildings had collapsed in either due to disrepair or damage from growing foliage. Yet there was something about the place that held a certain charm to me, but we had not come here to admire the surroundings.

We set off through the buildings, over a few walls and eventually into the jungle as it proved to be easier to get through then the port itself. All around the sounds and smells of the jungle reached me. The earthy smell was comforting along with the calls of the birds and lemurs. Yet mixed in with the buzz of insects was that all too familiar whine of mosquitoes and I just hoped I had enough bug repellent on and that my vaccines were all up to date.

Still, right now I had more to worry about then just the possibility of getting malaria or typhoid or the variety of other virus-slash-diseases I could get, as Sully and I discovered we were not alone. Somewhere off to the west, in the same vague direction that the explosion had come from, a shoot out had started, the exchange of gunfire echoing through the trees. Around the same time as it had started, Sully spotted movement off to our left and had pulled me down so we would not be seen.

It was a little group of Shoreline soldiers, three in total, stood about among some wooden crates looking at something on top of one of the crates. Also on top of the crate was a handheld radio which, at that moment, crackled into life with a voice that sounded as if it said something about being pinned down. I was not sure if it was the person speaking who was pinned or that they had pinned down our friends.

Not far from the soldiers I spotted a weapon lent against a crate and pointed it out to Sully. I thought it might prove to be useful in the long run if we could get it and he silently nodded his agreement. First, however, we needed to deal with Shoreline.

Moving off through the trees, I got myself into a new position where I could see my target and still be hidden. Then I slid the rifle silently from my shoulder and lined up my shot. I fired. The bullet whined its way through the vegetation and smashed into a crate, the shot ringing through the air, but not as loud as it would have been had there not been a gun battle going on. The three turned, two looking to the crate I had hit and one in my direction though he could not see me. The three took a few slightly confused steps forward allowing me to take my second shot. I aimed and fired. The radio on the crate exploded into pieces as it took to the air from the force of the impact. No calling for help now I thought, but it was obvious they now knew my whereabouts. The one who had looked my way to start with now made to send the other two my way and shouldering the rifle I dropped and began to crawl quickly to my next chosen position.

While I was doing this Sully took advantage of the now lone soldier and snuck up behind him before taking him out in whatever fashion he saw fit. I was too busy crawling away though to see it and as it had been the plan I assumed it happened for by the time I'd reached another spot, in which I hid beneath a bush and tried to remain still, I could see the man was gone.

The two soldiers could not find me, but they came worryingly close to where I was hidden. I waited and then we all heard a noise. They headed quickly back to camp to find their friend or possibly commander, the guy had seemed to have some authority, gone. Now the game began again. I aimed from my new spot and hit a different crate, then planted one near their feet making one jump into the other. Immediately they began to move and I hissed in disappointment to myself: I needed just one to come not both. I began to crawl as swiftly as could only to freeze as I heard the rough South African accents murmur to split up. Great I thought, I'm likely to crawl right into one.

I knew I could not stay where I was and so forced myself to move. I could see what appeared to be a rotten tree log and wondered if I could somehow hide in, under or along one side of it. I risked it and crawled to it. The end was a little hollowed out and so I squished myself as best as I could into it. I could hear their footsteps, a crack of a twig and I found the fear building in me again. I just wanted to close my eyes, block my ears and find this was all a dream, but that was not going to happen. I heard one get close and then nothing. One called out, to me or to his friend I was not sure. Then a rushing sound: someone pushing rapidly through the undergrowth before a loud thud of a boot followed by swearing.

I only seemed to remember to breathe when I heard footsteps receding away from me, relief flooding my system. Slowly I uncurled myself and began to ease out of the log end. I had to get back to a place where I could see the camp and quickly. I did not want to let Sully down after all. I carefully got to my feet and keeping low, as quietly as I could, I began to head for a third spot. I could only have taken a few steps when I heard a South African voice behind me and my blood ran cold. I froze, the rifle falling from my hands, and I could not even turn to look as I felt the muzzle of what I guess was some kind of machine gun press into my back.

"Nice try," said my captor and I could imagine his sneering face. "Playing sneaky were we?"

I said nothing, but a shiver ran over my skin. The idea of death scared the life out of me and to have it stood there behind me started to make my senses go into panic mode.

"I'm guessing you're Drake's little reporter, huh?" he continued, now pushing me forward with the gun and picking up mine in the process. "How'd you think it would make him feel to know you died trying to save him?"

"He wouldn't care," I stammered, the fear strangling my voice.

"Oh I think he would," the soldier replied.

"You're wrong," I said as my hands shook, my voice dying on my lips.

"Really, my friend? Why would you say that?" he said, a lightness in his tone suggesting he thought my fear was amusing.

"Cause I'm not a reporter," I said, not sure if saying that would get me killed quicker or not.

I could see the campsite now, but I could not see anyone else. Was this that third soldier I wondered or a new forth one we had missed.

"Oh no? What are you then," he said with a chuckle, but before I could answer he continued. "Does it really matter. I think not. You're dead either way. It's just a shame Drake's not here to witness it. But don't worry, I'll make sure he knows before he dies. That his girl died all alone in the jungle."

He chuckled to himself as, having put my rifle out of reach, he forced me down onto my knees. "Goodbye."

"She's not alone," said a voice, whose owner I could have kissed right then, their words followed by the pulling back of a hammer. "Drop it!"

The gun clattered to the leafy floor and finally, for the first time, I could turn and look at my attacker. The soldier was stood with his hands in the air while Sully had his gun to the man's head, the smirk I had imagined was now gone from his face. His brown eyes met mine for a few seconds before Sully struck him hard with the butt of his gun. The soldier's eyes rolled back into his head as he crumpled like a ragdoll to the floor and did not stir.

"You ok?" he asked, looking me up and down.

I guessed I looked a little pale and shaken.

"Yes," I managed, tearing my eyes from the soldier to look at him.

"Sure?" he queried.

I nodded.

"Right, I've dealt with the other three," he said, making me realise this was indeed a fourth soldier. "So we just need to tie this one up and get going."

"Ok," I responded.

Just then an explosion rocked the island.

"Quickly," added Sully and we set to work.

With the Shoreliners secured Sully took the weapon, an RPG, and set off through the jungle. I followed close behind. We came back out into the buildings, but we were still not where we needed to be. We were short on time and the quickest route looked to be up and over in a straight line. I was not sure I could do it, but if Sully was prepared to do so while lugging an RPG then so was I. Up and over we went.

Up most of the time turned out to be easier then down as some of the drops off the walls were enough to make me pause. Then again, a few times I had to run more then once at an obstacle to get up.

Back into the jungle and round before entering into some wooden buildings. I did not like being in them as the floorboards creaked ominously and I thought they might give way. We dropped down into the building and out through the large doorway, its wooden doors had long since been flung open. Across a courtyard of stone and I could see, by looking slightly to my left, that we seemed to be higher up then I felt we were. Sully was in such a hurry he almost did not see where the floor of the courtyard ended and seeing his balance fail, as he tried to catch himself, I lunged forward pulling him back just in time.

"Cheers," he said a little breathlessly.

"Least I could do," I replied. "In fact it was probably my fault you didn't see it till the last minute."

He gave me a quizzical look.

"Looking back at me all the time," I said and he gave me a nod of understanding before shaking his head.

"Not your fault, lass," he said with a smile. "I should have been looking where I was going."

There was another explosion then and more shooting. It was closer now. We dropped down again to what remained of a platform of stone to find the ladder down no longer really existed. We both looked down at the drop to the ground. It was pretty high and below were hard looking cobbles. Sully volunteered to go first and having made it down he turned and held his hands out to catch me. I waved him off. It was not that I did not trust him to catch me, it was more I did not trust myself not to knock him down. I sat on the edge as another explosion came and then the sound of a big heavy gun. Sully looked off to his right, worry on his features and I made my decision.

"Go!" I said, making him look at me. "Go on. Go ahead. I'll catch you up!"

He looked suddenly torn between leaving me and helping the others.

"I'll be fine," I reassured him. "You've got the firepower so go!"

I heard him sigh and then with a nod to me, he set off running. I watched him go before turning back to the task in hand. I mentally prepared myself for the drop and then slowly turned myself so I faced the way we had come, my legs dangling. Gravity began to pull and I let it, lowering my torso until I was holding on by my fingers. I let go.

The ground rose up to meet me and upon hitting it, I unsurprisingly lost my balance and fell. I felt the hard ground make contact with my knee, ripping my trousers slightly and my palms and one arm. Cursing the fact I would have more cuts and bruises I scrabbled to my feet and set off running as best as I could after Sully.

The gun fire got louder as I ran through a square like area, past several house like buildings, and towards where Sully had gone. I could also hear what sounded rather like something being destroyed or falling, I was not really sure and yet I started to get flashbacks of the earlier chase with that horrid armoured vehicle and I soon realised why.

Ahead, as I scrambled up on to higher bit of terrain, I could see Sully raising the RPG as something smashed though the side of a building of some kind, as it had attempted to round the corner. Instantaneously I recognised it as one of the same sort of armoured trucks as the one before. I thought maybe I heard a voice on the wind as the truck tried to continue only for Sully to unleash the RPG right into it, stopping it from moving forward for good.

"Sully?!" I heard someone say, it sounded like Nate.

I heard Sully reply something, only for the person below to yell as we all discovered the smoking vehicle's gun still worked. Having pushed Sully back with gun fire, it continued firing at whoever was below causing Sully to chuck the RPG down to them. A shot came from below and hit the truck, but still it kept firing and I remembered the relentlessness of its predecessor. The RPG fired again this time succeeding and causing the burning wreckage to drop off the raised part it had been on and drop down to the lower part with a groaning sound.

I heard a voice come from below and Sully replied.

"Nice work, kid."

It was definitely Nate then.

"Well, thanks for the assist," called Nate back.

Sully then made a move over to the edge of the drop and helped Nate out. He then stood back up as the two looked at each other and greeted each other. So just Nate then, but where was Elena and where was Sam?

I approached.

"Yeah, well…" said Sully, now seeing me and giving me a nod. "Freya and I got a little antsy waiting around to hear from you two."

Nate turned as I approached, my eyes immediately flitting to the wound on his head and back, and gave me a smile before he started to move away.

"Yeah, no, we gotta find Sam and Elena still," he said, looking between us.

Then I glanced behind him and felt a small amount of relief.

"Hey!" called out Elena appearing through a stone archway.

Nate turned along with Sully.

"Hey!" he replied, relief in his voice.

"Are you okay?" she asked as the two embraced, bringing a smile to my face.

"Yeah," responded Nate as I looked for anyone else appearing.

"We heard those explosions," she continued, my brain homing in on the 'we'. "We thought-"

Nate indicated to Sully.

"Yeah, it's all this guy," answered Nate.

Elena half laughed.

"You saved his ass again?" she queried.

Sully shrugged. "Naturally, but I had a little help."

He indicated to me and Elena and I smiled at each other.

"How you doing?" he continued.

"Good," she replied as footsteps made me look to the arch. "Good. There were some close calls, but um…"

She stepped back and lent so she could see through the arch as she looked for someone. Then Sam appeared slowly through the arch.

"He covered me," she finished.

My eyes rapidly raked over him, he was definitely worse for wear. He had a cut on his nose where it appeared someone had punched him, I guessed, and then my eyes moved immediately to the scrappy bandage that was tied around his bloody arm. What had happened, I wondered.

Sam came slowly towards us, glancing at us each in turn. I felt his eyes linger just a second longer on me before focusing on Nate.

"Hey," he said simply and Nate moved to meet him.

"Hey," replied Nate.

The two stood facing each other.

"How's that?" asked Nate, indicating to Sam's arm.

He glanced at it before replying.

"Oh," he said before chuckling kinda nervously. "Bullet grazed my shoulder."

He'd been shot? Again?

"Yeah," said Nate with a slight nod.

"You?" queried Sam.

"Cliffside…" said Nate, pointing to the injury on his head. "Grazed my face."

There was the slightest sound of a laugh from Sam at Nate's joke or then again it could have been the wind. I could feel a kind of awkwardness between them that I was almost certain had not been there before. I knew then something had happened that I currently was not privy to.

"So how'd you lose Rafe?" asked Nate.

Sam half laughed. "I led his crew right into one of Avery's traps."

Nate nodded.

"Smart," he replied before starting to turn away as Sam half laughed again and glanced at the floor.

Then upon realising his brother was about to walk away he continued.

"Hey, hey, look…" he said, making Nate turn back to him. I thought for a moment I could see pain in his expression and then it mostly disappeared. "About the whole Alcázar thing-"

"Hey just, we can save that for later, okay?" interjected Nate, holding up a hand to stop Sam in his tracks.

Nate then turned to Sully. "Which way?"

"On the beach," answered Sully, pointing back the way we had come. "Other side of this town."

"Okay," said Nate, giving Elena and me a glance as we all started to move in the direction of the plane.

"Good. I hope all that ruckus didn't attract any attention," said Elena.

Nate sighed. "I know."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," started Sam, making us all turn. Sam had not moved like the rest of us. "Sorry."

He took a few steps forward. "What are we doing?"

"What do you think we're doing?" replied Sully, taking a step or two back towards Sam. Elena and I followed. "We're getting the hell off of this rock."

"Right," he said, making a movement with his left hand. "We- we could do that…"

Nate now joined us and from the expression on his face I believed he knew where Sam was about to go with this.

"Or we can head in that direction…" continued Sam, pointing out to his right. "Which is a short cut."

My brow furrowed: not to the plane it's not, I thought.

Sully glanced at Nate before looking back at Sam. "Short cut to what?"

Sam's face made an wincing expression before answering:

"To Avery's treasure."

"Oh, wow," responded Sully, seemingly unable to believe he could be suggesting this after everything.

Sam turned to his right either ignoring or not hearing Sully's words.

"I mean, Rafe's got to go all the way around but we could just-" he continued, indicating with his right hand the way we could go.

"Hey, screw Rafe!" snapped Sully, cutting Sam off and causing him to turn back to us.

"Hey, Victor with all due respect maybe just leave this-" Sam tried, but Sully was not having any of it.

"You just don't know when to quit," he said.

Sam glanced at his brother and then back at Sully.

"Look, we're all here for the same reason, right?" said Sam looking round us, though his eyes skimmed me rapidly to Elena. "Right?"

"We didn't come after the treasure," she said, shaking her head while I had to nod in agreement. "We came after you."

"And I appreciate that," he said, rapidly putting his hand out to stop her saying more. "I do. But we're good."

He looked to Nate and then back at Elena before shrugging.

"And we've got the lead for now," he added, taking a step in the direction he wanted to go, but no one followed so he looked around us again. "We can do this."

No one said anything and I could see from his expression he knew he was losing this. He needed an ally and he naturally looked to his brother.

"Nathan, c'mon," he tried. "Huh? Look around. Okay, Avery scuttled ever last ship on this island."

So that's what had occurred, I thought. But why?

"You know why?" he continued, it was like he read my mind.

"Because he was hell-bent on keeping his treasure…" answered Elena.

"Exactly," said Sam, relief in his tone suggesting he felt he was making progress.

"No matter the cost to the others around him," she added, making Sam sigh as he realised he had not made progress at all.

He focused on Nate.

"Because he didn't want anyone to follow him," he explained. "Because he was leaving."

He began pulling something out of his pocket.

"Look at this," he said, unfolding what appeared to be parchment and showing it to Nate who had yet to say something. "Okay. I found his map of the island. Okay?"

He handed it to Nate who took it from him and looked at it.

"That's his ship," explained Sam, pointing at something on the map. "Right under that mountain."

He pointed to a large, odd shaped, rocky mountain. It looked a bit like some great beast, its gaping maw open as if roaring its contempt to the world. There was something ominous about it, but that might have just been me.

"That's were our treasure is," concluded Sam, I could see Nate's mind working as he thought through what Sam was saying. Sam turned to the rest of us. "And it is exactly where Rafe is heading right now…while we stand around here and argue like idiots."

"Okay, what if he's already left the island…" asked Sully, moving closer to Sam and Nate. "And his ship sunk somewhere out there in the middle of the ocean?"

"Then we find out where it got sunk," said Sam, his tone suggesting that was obvious.

"Oh, boy…" said Sully, the expression on his face suggesting Sam was a lost cause, one he had seen before, and with a wave of his hand he seemingly gave up.

Sam looked to Nate.

"How long we been chasing this thing, huh?" said Sam to Nate as Sully came to join Elena and I. "You and me. No offence to these guys…but they don't get it."

We could only see Nate's face and I watched it: trying to read what he was thinking. Nate glanced down again at the map.

"Actually Sam, they do," he said finally, meeting his brother's gaze. "They really do."

Nate handed the map back to Sam as Sam's head sank down.

"Okay," said Sam, though it was almost a whisper.

I could tell he had realised he had lost his last chance at winning the argument. Nate was trying to read him.

"Trust me," he said as Sam raised his head to look at him. "They've seen this…kind of obsession before."

Sam looked away and then back at his brother with a sigh. Nate put his hand on Sam's shoulder to stop him leaving before dropping it back to his side.

"But Sam…" he said. "We're not those kids anymore. We're not. And we got nothing to prove."

Sam stared at him before raising his hands, bowing his head a little and for all other purposes his body language from behind read as 'ok, you win'. He then lowered his hands and stepped back from his brother. He said nothing, only nodding to himself before turning finally to us, specifically Sully.

"Victor, where's that plane?" he asked, all emotion gone from his tone.

Sully turned slightly before moving forward and indicating with his hand. "Right this way."

He then walked between the brothers as he began to head back the way he and I had come. Sam started to follow him as did I, passing Nate, and as I did I saw his shoulders noticeably sag: I guessed it had clearly taken a lot for him to do that to his brother. I glanced back and saw Elena put a hand on Nate's shoulder before I turned and dropped down again onto the path into the town. Sam appeared to be waiting at the bottom.

One hand was stuffing the map back in his pocket, but he seemed to be taking his time to do so. Sully, I noticed, had gone on ahead a little. I glanced again at Sam, I have to say I did feel just a little bit sorry for him, but I tried not to let that show. I figured he would not like it. I was partially debating as to whether I should say something when Elena and Nate joined us.

Immediately I saw Nate's eyes flick between me and his brother.

"What's-" he started, but I waved him off.

"Nothing," I said not wanting to cause more trouble. "Was just waiting for you two."

"Okay," said Elena. "Come on then."

They started forward and I made to follow, but Sam did not make a move to do the same. I stopped, while Elena and Nate kept walking, though I think Nate glanced back at us.

"You coming, Sam?" I questioned to which he nodded and took a few steps forward.

It was then I swear he said something, as I made to continue, that made me stop dead and turn to look at him.

"Sorry? Did you say something?" I asked, he had stopped again and was looking at the ground.

"I said sorry," he more or less mumbled.

"Sorry?" I repeated.

I was confused: it's what I thought he had said, but it did not make sense.

"Yeah, sorry," he said.

It was then that I sensed the same sort of awkwardness in him he had had with Nate.

"What do you mean sorry?" I questioned. "Sorry for what?"

"For everything," he said, gesturing around him.

"Are you serious?" I asked, not understanding why this was happening now. He nodded. "Now? Now you believe me? Why would you…"

He said nothing. My brow furrowed as I tried to read him and then a feeling started to develop in the pit of my stomach and a light bulb came on in my head, but the disbelief that he could have done such a stupid, idiotic…surely he did not.

"Oh. My. God," I said as the realisation came to me. "Seriously? You cannot be serious. You did, didn't you. You did it."

The others had stopped at the edge of the town and were now staring back at us.

"Sam? Freya? Are you coming?" called Nate.

I put my hand out to the side, high enough so they could see it. "Just wait a minute!"

Sam would not look at me, just the floor.

"You asked him didn't you?" I said with disgust and disbelief. "You bloody well asked him. Didn't you?!"

Sam looked a little bit up from his feet.

"Yes," he said finally.

I laughed, more for the ludicrousness of the situation then because I found it funny.

"Oh this cannot be happening," I said, shaking my head. "Come on then. Tell me. What did he say that convinced you to believe what the rest of us have been trying to tell you since all this," I pointed to myself, "began?"

The others appeared to be thinking about coming back towards us, but then thought better of it and milled around waiting.

"Enlighten me, please," I said. "I'm dying to know."

"He laughed, could barely stop in fact," said Sam quietly. "Thought I was paranoid, he and Nadine both. But it was the looks as well as what they said…"

He trailed off and I could see on his face he was reliving the scenario as if it was happening before his very eyes. Finally he turned to me and looked me in the eye.

"I was wrong, okay," he said, holding my gaze. "I really mean it. I'm sorry."

I paused and sighed, trying to take it all in. Sam had that hurt look about him again and I knew that in my heart I felt like he had had enough punishment for that day. He needed someone to give him a bit of a break. I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him look at me.

"I forgive you," I said simply, holding his gaze so he could read me and see I meant it.

It was his turn to look confused.

"You do?" he said before he could stop himself.

"Yes and thank you for your apology," I said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"Um, right," he said as I gave him a warm smile. "Okay…"

"Come on then," I said, letting go of him and making to head for the others. "I think we've kept them waiting long enough."

"Right…" he said, seemingly still unable to get his head around my forgiving him.

This time when I moved he followed, I could feel his eyes on me once more right up until the point he moved to my side and instead chose to walk with me back to the others. It made me smile and for the first time since I'd been dragged on this adventure, I felt the tension was finally gone.

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So what did we think? Are we all still enjoying it? I hope so, but if you feel like telling me you could always press that review button. :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, they make me more happy then you could ever know. To whitephoenix18, no worries and thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I shall be interested to see what you think when we reach the end. I hope you enjoy this chapter. To Neon Jack, thank you and the end was that Sam having been captured by Rafe had taken his chance to ask Rafe if Freya was working for him and had found out that she wasn't so he was apologising but Freya couldn't quite believe it had taken physically asking Rafe (which may or may not have put her in more danger) for Sam to finally believe her. Hope you enjoy this one.

Right, here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. There is some UC4 dialogue in this one. So without further ado, read on dear readers...

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

I got that look off the three of them as we reached them. That 'is everything ok?' look and I gave them a simple nod. We then set off into the town.

"Is it far?" asked Elena.

"Not very," answered Sully. "Just through this port town."

We headed for the arch entrance way, which I only just noticed properly now mainly due to the fact when I'd run through it to get to Sully, I'd been concentrating on not tripping over my own feet. 'Today you will join me in paradise' was carved upon it in capital letters. Some paradise this had turned out to be, I thought, only to be then reminded of the song 'The Last Resort' by the Eagles. Though it was about the destruction of the American west it had a line in that said: You call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye. I felt like it applied here somehow.

"What if Shoreline set up an ambush by the plane?" questioned Elena.

"They didn't," replied Sam simply.

"And what makes you so sure?" she continued, I glanced at him.

"Because they're heading to the mountain," he replied and I could hear the slightest tinge of disappointment that he had failed to hide in his tone. "For the treasure."

He glanced back over his shoulder before looking at the ground again. We headed through the arch, the building straight ahead appeared to be some sort of shop or house. Just before it a set of steps, that I at that moment distinctly remembered almost falling on my nose up, led down into a small area.

We were all silent as we set off across the area, Sully leading the way. About in the middle of it was what looked like it had once been a sign or a notice board, but the board was now hanging by its last connection to its frame, lopsided and forlorn. I paused to look at it before glancing around the little area. I tried to imagine what it might have been like before everything had seemingly gone wrong.

As I finished turning I noticed Sam was looking at me. I gave him a look of 'what?' yet he just gave me a small smile, well I think he did, and turned to head through into the large more open square.

"Coming?" queried Elena, she had stopped at the bottom of the two steps next to the sign.

I nodded.

"This way," I heard Sully say ahead.

Elena and I caught up with the other three as they climbed some steps up onto a raised wall upon which I could see the remains of some cannons. We joined them as Sully pointed to where the plane could be seen awaiting us.

"There she is," said Sully.

"It's a long drop," remarked Elena, looking between Sully and I. "How did you guys get here?"

"We hopped down a few of these walls, but…" he replied and I felt him glance at me. "I guess we'll have to find another way around."

I sighed, life never seemed to be easy. We headed back down into the square and as we did there was a sort of deep boom and I felt tremors through the ground.

"What the hell was that?" questioned Sully, looking around.

"That came from the mountain," said Elena, glancing back towards it.

"It's Avery's traps," explained Sam, again looking back to the mountain.

"Hey, that means they're blowing themselves up," remarked Sully.

"No, it means they're on the right path," said Sam and some part of me knew then that if the chance came for him to go back for the treasure, he would, whatever the consequences.

"Hey c'mon," said Nate. "Let's just stay focused here, huh?"

I wondered if Nate was thinking the same as me. I decided to try and take Sam's mind off it.

"So Sam?" I started as we strolled around the square. He looked at me. "What got you guys into all this?"

I gestured around us and even as I asked I was not sure if I had asked the right question for the purpose.

"Libertalia?" he queried and I shook my head. "Oh you mean the business?"

"Um, yeah, that."

"Well…" he started and then seemed to think about it a bit too long.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I said, glancing out at the sea.

"My Mom," he said and I turned back to him.

"Oh?" I said.

"Yeah, well, she was a historian for this adventurer," he said and again I saw his eyes flick back to the mountain.

"Go on," I said, bringing his attention back to me.

"Well to cut a long story short, Nathan and I found one of her journals," he explained. "And Avery and some others were in it. There was all this research that she'd done, but they'd never had time to follow it through. So we did."

I had caught on to the way he used the past tense when he spoke of her.

"So I suppose this whole thing has brought you closer to her in a way?" I said, feeling like I might be treading on thin ice. "Your Mum that is?"

He paused for a moment.

"I guess," he said quietly. "It's not just that though."

"Oh ok," I said as I noticed the other's had reached the place where Sully and I had dropped down.

We headed over.

"Well, we jumped down from up there…" started Sully.

"More like fell on my part," I added quietly, but the others seemed to hear it.

"But it's too high to get back up," said Sully.

"Yeah," concurred Elena. "Maybe there's something we can put under it?"

I sighed and moved to sit down on the edge of the wall which surrounded the little waterway that cut across the square. They did not require me to figure out a way up and I was sure I would probably just get in the way. To my surprise, Sam sat down with a slight wince beside me.

"You want me to take a look at that when we get back?" I questioned, for some reason feeling a little nervous.

He glanced at his arm and then at me.

"It's fine," he said simply and then added with a shrug. "But ok."

"Oh, good," I said before glancing around to see if Nate had a solution yet.

"So you asked a question about me," said Sam, making me swing back round. "Can I ask one about you?"

This whole thing of chatting to Sam was just feeling odd, especially since for most of the time I had known him he had suspected me of working for Rafe. I wondered if he felt that way too, but then I guessed I was also the only person seemingly not angry with him and that was probably why he was talking to me. Still, if it took his mind away from running back to the mountain then surely it was a good thing.

"Ok, go ahead," I said with a nod.

"Where did a girl like you learn to shoot like that?" he queried, giving a nod to my rifle.

"A girl like me?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you don't seem like the type who would-"

"At a shooting range," I interjected before he could start properly digging a hole. "My novels took off when I was at university by some miracle and it was just something I wanted to have a go at. My Dad had been good at target shooting and I wanted to try my hand at it. That's about it."

He nodded before resting his hands on his lap and staring down at the water. We sat for a few moments in a comfortable silence and then Nate called.

"Give me a hand, Sam."

It seemed he had found a rather heavy looking cart that he planned to push under the drop so we could get up.

"All right," said Sam and getting to his feet, he went to assist. The two shoved it till the cart was almost in position, only slowing for a slight incline which Elena noticed.

"Hey, you need a hand?" she asked and the was just the slightest smile on her face.

"Hey, no thanks," replied Sam. "We got it."

With one final shove it was in place. Sully went up first, followed by Nate and then Elena. I glanced at Sam who indicated I should go next and some part of me felt uneasy about it, like it expected him to just leg it.

Taking a breath I climbed onto the cart. It moved ever so slightly and I felt my legs start to shake a little. I looked at the ledge above me and doubt came into my mind. I could not make that, my brain said. You will miss and go splat.

"You're fine," I heard Sam say, but my eyes remained glued to the ledge and my feet glued to the cart.

"Take my hand," said Elena's voice and she appeared above me. "I won't let you fall."

I felt like a school child who had lost its Mum in the supermarket, but I took the proffered hand.

"Now, I'm going to count to three and then I need you to jump as I pull," she said with a confidence boosting smile. "You ready?"

I nodded.

"Okay, One. Two. Three!" she said and pulled while I jumped.

It was not smooth and I winced as my body smacked the edge of the stone floor, but somehow I got up.

"Nice one," I heard Sam say from below and the urge to punch him gave me a little wave.

He came right up behind us, making it look sickeningly easy and I sighed. I really wanted to go home now.

We followed Nate and Sully back into the building we had come through and looked around. There did not appear to be any easy way out.

"Anyone see a way out?" queried Sully.

We looked but I could not see one, no spare crates of stuff to climb up on. Well nothing I would consider climbing up or on. Nate of course found something as usual.

Up onto a crate and then a leap to reach a beam which you shimmed along a bit to the edge of the wooden floor and up. I looked up at Nate stood atop the wooden floor with an expression that said 'you must be joking'. Nate gave me a grin. The urge to punch him did a little dance before my eyes.

"I'll lift you," suggested Sam, making me stare at him to see if he was joking. "Nathan can pull you up from me. Would that be easier?"

"Probably quicker," remarked Nate.

I sighed. "Go on then."

Sam sat down on the edge of the crate and tapped his shoulder as an indication I should get on.

"You sure I won't hurt you?" I asked him quietly.

"It's fine," he said and tapped his shoulder again.

"Ok," I said and carefully climbed on.

Standing up was a bit more wobbly, but Sam quickly was in control of the situation. All those push ups had clearly done him good.

"How much do you weigh?" he questioned as he calmly got onto the box like crate. "No offence intended."

"None taken. Um, like about nine stone?" I replied, questions about my weight had never bothered me.

"So that's like what? One hundred and twenty-six pounds?" he asked as he made to position himself below Nate.

"Um, I'm not sure?" I said, looking up at Nate.

"That's right," nodded Nate as I reached up to him.

"It feels less," said Sam as he used his arms to push me up.

Between the two of them I had a much easier time getting up.

"Thanks," I said as Nate helped both Sully and Elena up.

"No problem," the brothers replied in unison.

Now we were up, we needed to get out the window apparently and back down. It was not too much of a drop, but I still disliked it. Nate was down, Elena followed, Sully looked at me.

"You want me to go first, lass?" he said.

"No, it's ok," I said, hoping this was the last face plant of the day.

I sat myself on the window sill and then pushed off. I landed with a thump actually on my feet and was pretty happy with how it had gone.

"Like a pro," whispered Elena to me and I shook my head at her.

We followed Nate as he headed towards where you could see the lighthouse only to find a rather large and un-jump-down-able drop.

"Huh," mumbled Nate, clearly even he was not about to suggest we try getting down there.

"Well, we're getting there," commented Sully.

"I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again," said Elena and I could tell by her tone she was imagining it.

"So close, yet so far…" said Sully, glancing down over the edge.

Glancing around Nate spotted a sort of pulley-lift thing, which looked about as safe as all the bridges we had used in Madagascar.

"Whoa. Check that thing out," he remarked, looking at it with a expression I did not like on his face.

"It's like a skyrail or something," said Elena.

"Think it still works?" queried Sully, I did not like where this was going.

Nate moved to investigate it.

"There's no controls, but I bet I could pull the platform with my rope," said Nate, giving his grappling hook a pat.

"Maybe if you could get to that wooden platform down there…" said Elena, pointing across the gap to said platform which was on the other side, situated a little ways down the cliff wall.

It was a good idea in theory, but looking at where he would need to jump to, to make it possible, looked too far to jump, way too far to jump. I glanced around, there seemed to be nowhere else to really go. We could not even get back into the jungle from here due to a wall of sandbags which I was now wondering if we could climb over.

"I got an idea…" said Sam then, he was looking at a large wooden beam that was lying on the ground not far from the drop. "Nathan, give me a hand?"

"Okay…" said Nate as he moved to join Sam.

The two then started pushing the beam via the smaller piece of wood that had at some point been attached to it, I assumed, to enable it to be used in the whatever purpose the pirates or colonists planned. I watched as it drew closer and closer to the edge and then off the edge, jutting out in the direction of the wooden platform. I did not think it would reach, but then it appeared they were not trying to make it do so. The brothers instead left it stuck out, reminding me of a diving board, with about a quarter of the beam's length beyond the edge.

"Okay. Victor, can I borrow you for a sec?" queried Sam as I tried to work out what he planned.

"Sure," replied Sully, moving to stand upon beam along with Sam.

"Right. Go ahead, Nathan," instructed Sam, pointing to the end that was stuck out over the edge. I felt my stomach do a flip as I realised what Nate was about to do. "There. We'll hold it down. You jump across."

"You're not gonna drop me are you?" queried Nate, bringing a slight smile to my face.

"Tempting. But no," replied Sam.

Nate judged the distance.

"Well…maybe," added Sully right as Nate went for it.

I would have given Sully a look, but I could not take my eyes off Nate as he leapt for the platform. Then there was a distinctly wooden thump as he landed upon the platform to my relief.

"Made it," he called and I saw Elena smile.

"Here we come," called Sully as we headed for the platform.

I have to say I was less keen on the idea. Elena was on first followed by Sully who both stood encouraging me while Sam stood behind me to ensure I got on. I stumbled slowly up the creaky wooden steps and glanced at the platform. Sully held his hand out and taking a breath I took it and stepped on. It rocked and almost instantly I wanted off it as I felt my legs begin to shake, but Sam did not give me the option as he got on right behind me. We each took hold part of the lift to steady ourselves and then Elena glanced round us all before calling out to Nate.

"Okay, we're ready!"

Nate aimed and threw his grappling hook which caught onto the base of the wooden lift, making it swing a little as it did. He then began to reel it back in and slowly the precarious platform began to move.

"Well, this is some impressive engineering for a bunch of pirates," remarked Sully as we neared the halfway point.

"This is nothing," replied Elena. "You shoulda seen the elevators."

"Wait, they have elevators?" queried Sully, sounding just a bit shocked.

"Massive ones," said Elena.

Well, I thought, clearly they had spent too much time on those things and not enough time on their bridges. Then we all felt the platform, which had been steadily crossing, drop down a little and its pace changed.

"Whoa-!" cried Elena as the platform suddenly shot forward.

The thought I was going to die crossed my mind.

"Hang on!" yelled Sam as it sped unstably for the other side.

It swung with forward momentum and Sully and Elena leapt onto the safe ground while Sam moved forward to where Elena had been and I stayed where I was as the platform rocked back.

"You guys all right?" came the anxious voice of Nate from below.

The platform rocked forward again while making a whining metal noise.

"Yeah," responded Elena as she dusted herself off. "It's like a roller coaster."

The platform stabilised finally.

Sam looked at me.

"Time to get off," he said, holding out his hand. I didn't move. "Come on, it's fine."

"Freya?" called Elena from where she stood with Sully.

I took a step and felt the platform move. Nope, nope, I shut my eyes, I didn't like it. I felt Sam's rough, warm hand on my arm.

"You need to open your eyes," he said and I did so meeting his hazel ones. "You don't want to stay on this thing do you?"

I shook my head.

"Right then, let's get off," he said, pulling me forward gently.

I took a breath and suddenly focused. I wanted off, Sam was right and the way off was there and I was damned if this thing was going to win. Right off we go, I thought, and before Sam or anybody else was even ready I just went for it. I landed slightly unsteadily on my feet on solid ground, my hands shaking from the sudden rush of adrenaline that had come with the strong and sudden urge for self preservation. I glanced back at Sam who was still on the platform with a look on his face that just simply said '…okay then'.

He then lay down on his front upon the platform and held a hand out to his brother.

"C'mon up, Nathan," he called.

The platform rocked as Nate clearly had left his own platform and was now scaling the up the rope that was attached to his grappling hook. I felt myself shiver at the thought.

"All right, Nathan, you climb on up I'll grab ya," said Sam, reaching down as Nate neared the top.

Nate held onto the bottom of the platform, now having reached it and reclaimed his grappling hook, and swung himself forward before letting go, reaching for Sam's hand. He succeeded and Sam made to pull him up onto the platform. It was all going so well, but just as Nate made it onto the platform properly, there was a terrible noise and one side of the platform broke loose.

"Oh, shit!" I heard Nate exclaim as he and Sam fell only for both to just succeed at grabbing the lowest part of the platform. Immediately Elena, Sully and I all shot forward and Sully got down on his front and reached out towards Nate who was the nearest of the two.

"Go!" said Sam, I could hear the fear in his voice as the two began to climb. "Jump off, quick!"

"Nate, gimme your hand!" cried Sully as Nate neared us.

Yet as Nate jumped towards Sully's outstretched hand, the weight he placed on the platform to launch himself put too much pressure on metal bond on his side and it broke too. The platform swung violently back the way we had come, Sam yelling as it went, on its last secure bond but it seemed Sam knew that it too would likely break, for he desperately launched himself at the side from which we had come. He managed it, but only just, as the platform lost its struggle and fell down to the cobble street below.

"There you go," said Sully as he helped Nate to his feet.

Nate rushed to the edge as Sam finally managed to drag himself up.

"Sam!" he called to get his attention, but also because he was relieved to see him.

"Son of a bitch," I heard Sam say as he lent a hand on the wall next to him to steady himself for a moment, there was a tiredness in his tone.

"Sam, c'mon!" Nate called, indicating with his hand for Sam to come to us.

There was a strange sort of urgency to Nate's tone and I was not sure why.

"Huh?" said Sam breathlessly, he turned and came towards us and the edge. "All right."

He was glancing around as he did and that niggling feeling grew in me again. Suddenly the urgency in Nate's voice made sense.

"C'mon, just jump," said Nate, making my brow furrow. He could not be serious. "I'll catch you."

Sam reached the edge and then glanced down at the same drop he had almost fallen down.

"Let's go," said Nate, reaching out to him.

Well if anyone could jump it then it was probably Sam, yet I could see already his chance was calling him. He then looked around, his eyes lingering on that damn mountain, before looking back at Nate. Sam sighed and looked at the ground.

"No," said Nate, but I could see Sam's mind was already made up. "No, no, don't even think about it, you hear me?"

"I'm sorry I got you into this," said Sam as I sighed quietly. He looked around us, his eyes lingering on mine. "All of you."

"Hey, all that doesn't matter anymore, okay?" Nate tried. "Just…just jump."

Yet Sam was now looking at the mountain, almost as if it had some sort of invisible hold over him. He turned his head and looked at his brother.

"I gotta see this thing through, Nathan," he said.

His words from earlier floated into my mind. 'It's not just that though' he had said and I now wondered what else was driving him to finish this.

"Sam," said Nate, but Sam was already moving, heading for the mountain. "Hey, listen to me! If you do this, I'm not coming after you!"

Sam stopped as I stared at Nate, no he couldn't mean that.

"You hear me?" finished Nate.

Sam glanced back over his shoulder, but I could tell from his face he had not changed his mind.

"I'm sorry," he said before he took off running.

"Sam!" Nate yelled, but it was too late. "Sam! Oh…"

Elena had moved over to the edge, her eyes staring at where Sam had been, as Nate turned away.

"Stupid, stubborn…" Nate grumbled.

"He called your bluff," commented Sully as Nate put his hands on his head, still walking away.

He then put them back down with a sigh and turned to us.

"He's gonna get himself killed," said Elena as she turned and began to walk up a rough pathway that led off to my left, before turning towards the direction Sam had gone. I followed. "C'mon."

She set off running and I followed her through an archway and along the path.

"Have you got an idea?" I asked.

"Not really," she said. "But this is a start."

"Fair enough," I replied.

We stopped for a minute until we could hear the footsteps of Sully and Nate.

"Up here," she called. "Maybe we can head him off."

They joined us.

"I'm gonna save him…then I'm gonna punch him," remarked Nate and I smiled to myself.

"All right, let's just worry about the saving part first," replied Sully.

"What the hell is he thinking?" continued Nate. "I mean, after everything we- Wasn't this enough?"

Nate sighed and I looked at him. Some part of me was reasonably sure I knew what Sam had been thinking, but I was not sure if I should say anything: after all Nate might actually know the reason and not wish to admit it. One of those seeing your own faults in someone else sort of thing, but then again I believed there was more then one reason. Did Nate know those? I was not sure, but I chose to remain silent anyway.

"Let's just find him," he said and we continued up the path.

The trail led past some more buildings and into a foliage strewn square of sorts, in the middle of which stood a statue of a man. A man dressed like someone out of treasure island might dress if they were playing a pirate. I guessed it to be Avery. Two large buildings rose up before us blocking the way forward, to our left was more buildings and the only gap was thick jungle. It was heading in the wrong direction anyway. To our right was a high wall blocking the way, but if you could get over it then maybe it would lead to the path Sam had taken.

Before one of the large buildings, the one ahead, and just to the right was a large and heavy looking cart that had seemingly just been abandoned. Nate approached it.

"Hey, we can get over that wall with this," he said, getting behind the cart and beginning to push. With a grunt of effort from Nate it began to move painstakingly slowly. "C'mon…"

"Here, we got you," said Elena as we all moved to help him.

Nate moved to the right side, Sully took the left and Elena and I placed ourselves behind it.

"You ready?" called Sully and we began to push.

The thing weighed a ton or two and I could only imagine the horrified face of my chiropractor at the thought that I and three friends pushed this bugger up a slight incline. Upon reaching the wall we had to hold it in place as Nate went for the cart's brake.

"Hold on," he said as he struggled to help keep it in place and push the brake. There was a grinding metal sound and then nothing. "Got it."

"Okay…" said Elena as we all carefully let go. "All right."

Nate chuckled. "All right, see?"

At the exact moment he finished saying those words, there was a nasty metal chink sound and something fell to the floor. The cart lurched backwards and we all rushed to stop it rolling back the way we had come.

"This isn't gonna hold," said Sully, the strain clear in his voice.

"C'mon…" begged Nate to the cart.

"Nate, go," said Elena and I knew she was right; if any of us could get to Sam it was Nate.

"No- I got it," he said, desperate not to separate again, but even with the four of us the cart was still slipping.

"Go!" cried Elena as the cart slipped back further into us.

"Ah, crap," said Nate, realising it was now or never.

He leapt up onto the cart and as he did the cart gave way even more and I felt something twinge. He steadied himself for a moment before making a run for the wall. He leapt and as he got a hold we released the cart which went flying back and smacked hard into the statue, loosing a wheel in the process.

"God damn it," said Sully with a sigh. "Now how the hell are we supposed to get up there?"

Elena was lent forward, I assumed she was catching her breath, while I was rubbing at the area I felt the twinge on my back. She shook her head and straightened.

"We don't have enough time," she said, making Sully and I look at her before we all turned to Nate.

"Nate…" started Sully, beginning to walk towards him. "No. Not by yourself."

Nate sighed. "Look, I'll come right back, okay?"

"Look, he is not gonna to leave without a fight," continued Sully and I looked to him before back at Nate.

"Then I'll fight him if I have to," said Nate, strangely enough to my relief. "But either way I'm bringing him back. Just get the plane as close to the mountain as you can. And be ready for a quick getaway."

Sully sighed knowing there was no changing Nate's mind now.

"Like there's another kind?" he replied.

Elena now stepped forward. "It's not fair."

"Huh?" said Nate, I looked at her.

"Doing the dishes? We take turns," she continued and I realised this had nothing to do with me. "Don't even think about not coming back."

Nate half laughed. "I love you."

Then with a nod to me he turned to leave and I wondered if I should say something but I refrained: it might ruin the moment. As he dropped down the other side of the wall, I just hoped I would see him again. Him and Sam, because the thought of not seeing either of them again was more then I could bare.

* * *

There we go, did we enjoy that? We're steadily coming to the end of our story, not much left to go. If you fancy telling me what you thought then you know what to do! :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, it's good to know people are enjoying this story. To whitephoenix18, I'm glad you like it and I'll be interested to see what you think of this one. To Neon Jack, thank you very much and here is the next, enjoy!

Ok, so I debated for a while whether to keep this chapter as it was as I gave my character a bit of background history based off my own experience. They say writers should write about what they know and so I have done. While I have not gone into lots of detail about it, due to the fact how I did the scene didn't call for me to do so, it is how I really felt and what I really experienced; the only difference is I have had more time to deal with it then my character.

Now there is a chance of a possible sequel to this story and I just wanted to ask how people feel about that. Would anyone want/be interested in a sequel? Let me know and we'll see what we can do. :)

Right ok, now all that's said, time to get on with the story. There is the tiniest little bit of UC4 dialogue, i.e. a line or two but that's it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and if you fancy telling me what you think or if you'd like a sequel then feel free to press that review button. Now without further ado, read on dear readers...read on...

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 **Chapter 16**

I glanced around the square. Was there really no other way out of here. No, nope I could not believe that. I moved over towards the building that had been on our left. I walked up the wooden steps and peered through the murky windows. Nope, I couldn't see a thing. Round the sides there were trees, but what I thought was jungle seemed to back on to a natural rocky wall.

"Freya, what are you doing?" called Elena as I peered even further in between the rock and the building. "Freya?"

"Just a second," I said as I tried to fit my nimble frame through the narrow gap.

Just squeeze a little further, I thought.

"There got it- whoa!" I said as I completely lost my balance and just fell into the foliage.

I had landed in a bunch of fern like fronds and mud it seemed. Some lizard like creature dashed into a safe little crack in the rocks as I tried to get up and brush some of whatever I had landed in off me.

"Lass? You all right?" asked Sully as Elena's face appeared in the gap.

"Yep, I'm fine," I said, feeling my cheeks go a little red.

"Here," said Elena, giving me her hand. "Let's get you out of there."

She heaved me back through the gap and I staggered a bit before finding my balance.

"What were you doing behind there?" asked Sully as I continued to brush myself off.

"Trying to find another way out of here," I said with a sigh.

"Look, we're going back to get the plane, okay," said Sully with a look that said 'I don't need anymore would be heroes today, thank you very much!'

"Yes, but-"

"Sully's right, Freya," interjected Elena before putting her arm around my shoulder. "Come on, let's get going."

"Fine," I replied with a defeated tone.

We set off walking quickly back the way we had come until we reached the spot once more where we had last seen Sam. We then turned right and began to head back down into the lower part of the port town. Through the little streets, down steps, hopping down a couple of walls as Sully liked to put it, a little diversion in and out of the jungle and back towards the little communal area near where Sully and I had started. As we reached the communal area the other two came to a halt. I had been about to continue to the steps that led to the terraced area when I realised Sully and Elena were not at my side. I turned and looked at them. They were stood quietly conversing. I sighed and walked back over to them.

"What are we thinking?" I asked as the two turned to me.

I looked between them and saw a look on Elena's face that told me what she was planning.

"You're going after them aren't you?" I continued over the silence. She nodded. "Then I'm coming with you."

Her brow furrowed.

"It would be safer-" she started.

"To stay with the plane," I finished for her. "Yes I know, but you need me. I can get us back to the beginning of that shortcut from here quicker then you can. Photographic memory for places, remember."

"Unfortunately she's right, darling," said Sully with a nod at me before Elena could argue. "Take the flare gun from the plane and the two of you head for the mountain. Just fire it off when you're ready and I'll do what I can."

"It's likely going to be dangerous," she said to me, trying to read my expression.

"I know," I replied. "But I have to do something and this is something I can do. I can't just sit on that plane anymore. No offence, Sully."

"None taken," he said with a slight wave of his hand.

"Are you sure you can keep up?" she asked and I knew what she meant, I was not the fittest person around and I was already kind of tired.

"I will not slow you down," I said, hoping that it was true.

She smiled, maybe she could see my determination or my worry.

"Okay," she said with a nod.

With the flare in hand we set off as the engine of the plane came into life. Up the steps of the terrace and back into the communal area, I headed right, retracing the route Sully and I had taken. Through the buildings again, ticking off each one as we passed, over the few walls once more - I paused for one moment in front of one to check it had the little crack it should have - and eventually into the jungle. I wondered if the mercenaries we had tied up had figured out how to escape yet and I also hoped we did not meet any of them. I moved round a tree and paused for a moment to check I was still correct and that Elena was still with me. She was of course and she gave me glance as she stopped at my side.

"You doing okay?" she asked.

I took a few deep breaths and attempted to clear my throat.

"Yep," I said, taking another breath. "Fine."

I then pointed towards a tree with some twisted vines around its trunk.

"It's this way," I said before with another deep breath I continued.

We jogged through the jungle until I turned sharply left near two familiar trees and came back out into the buildings. I knew we had come to the up and over part again and as we still needed the quickest route I would have to do the slightly unnerving obstacle course once more. It was for Nate and Sam I reminded myself, we had to help them…and then if we did I could always punch them later. I chuckled to myself. Great, I thought, I was going mad.

Up and over we went, Elena making it look remarkably easy while I just threw myself haphazardly at the walls and scrabbled my way over. There was no pausing this time on the drops though, not if I wanted to keep up with her. She was just starting to get ahead of me when I saw the little shop, well it looked like it had been a shop, with the smashed window that was my marker and I hollered 'this way!' to her, bringing her to a rapid halt. It was time to go back into the jungle and round which would lead into the wooden buildings. It was as we reached them that she finally recognised where she was.

"Nicely done," she said before dropping down into the very building where Sam had lifted me on his shoulders so Nate could pull me up.

Back out through the large doorway and across the courtyard of stone, we dropped down to the stone platform she had pulled me up and down again onto the cart we had used to get up. It was here I took a breather, my throat hoarse enough to make me cough several times. She paused, taking a breather herself, but I was not so sure she needed it.

"I can't quite believe you and Sully did all that," she said, indicating back the way we had come.

"You and me both," I replied with a laugh. "And Sully with a RPG for most of the way too."

"Really?" she said with a look. "Where was he hiding that?"

"We… _found_ it," I said, sticking air quotations on the found part.

"Oh, okay," she said with another look.

I waved her off and she did not choose to push it.

"So are you good to go?" she asked, glancing towards the mountain.

"Let's finish this thing," I replied and so we continued.

Across the large open square, past the cannons and under the walkway that led back into the little square with the broken sign. Up the couple of steps and then the proper steps, somehow not falling up them this time, we headed back through the paradise arch. As we headed to the raised terrain I found myself glancing at the spot where Sam had stood waiting to apologise. I sighed, wishing, like Nate, that just seeing Libertalia would have been enough for him, then we would not be doing this right now, but wishing would not change the fact it hadn't and so here we were.

She halted now as we had reached the spot where we had all been reunited.

"Sam said it was that way right?" she queried while pointing in a direction.

I looked at her and then altered my position so I was stood where I had been when Sam had explained it all.

"Yes, looks right to me," I responded.

"Okay," she said before looking at me. "This might not be an easy route."

"I know," I said, running a hand through my straggly hair. I was so not looking forward to brushing it later. "But what other choice do we have?"

"Just…don't push yourself to hard," she said before turning and heading for the new path.

"I won't," I said with a nod. "But don't hold back because of me. Go on ahead if you need to, ok?"

"Okay," she said.

I must be mad, I thought, as I followed after her into the unknown. I really hoped the path we were taking was not one that required having the climbing skills of a monkey or the ability to leap across gaps with stupidly high drops to hang on to a ledge with ones finger tips, because if it did I would be turning back and heading for a beach. Sully could pick me up from there for all I could care. Nope, I would not be killing myself today.

It was not as bad as my imagination had come up with. A little bit of scrambling to start with and then a relatively constant incline up. I was still trailing Elena, however, because when it comes down to it, I hate hills. Any hills. In fact any sort of incline at all. Down is fine, along is fine, up is not so fine.

So I had told her to go on ahead and that I would catch her up, but at the speed I was currently doing it looked as if it might take a while. It was as I stopped for what could have been the one hundredth time, that everything changed. An explosion occurred somewhere deep beneath my feet and the tremors it created reminded me of an earthquake simulator. I assumed it had been another one of Avery's traps, though I could not be sure. It had felt bigger then any that had come before it, but that might have just been because I was closer to it. Still, it reminded me quite firmly what was at stake and drove me to push myself up that hill faster then I had ever ascended a hill before in my life.

I charged up the incline as I felt another explosion, ignoring the protests of the muscles in my legs, and swearing under my breath the whole way. Upon finally reaching where it levelled off a bit I came to a sudden halt and bent forward, resting my arms on my shaking legs, to try and stem the lightheaded feeling I was getting. I coughed violently and wished more then anything I had some water to ease my throat. I knew that if anyone saw me at that moment my cheeks would have that sunburnt red look about them and the hair that made up my side fringe would be sticking to my forehead. Thankfully there was no one to see me as I was and once I'd got my breath back, I straightened and continued at a fast walking pace.

As I walked the route began to dip up and down slightly. Tree roots grew across the rough path, some of which I came close to tripping over mainly because I was distracted by lemurs leaping through the trees above. Ignoring the crazed treasure hunters and the dark history of what had occurred on the island, I have to say the place was pretty beautiful. A breeze whistled between the trees, bringing the sounds of sea birds and thankfully cooling my face. It also brought with it an unnatural sound, one that sounded a bit like a motor boat.

Having finally got my breath back fully I quickened my pace. The path became rockier and I could see great outcrops of rock rising now above the jungle around me. Then birds began to give startled cries and warning calls of lemurs filled the air as other birds near by took to the sky. Their calls were then drowned out by multiple explosions and the sounds of large pieces of rock giving way, while the tremors rumbled beneath my now pounding feet. The trees thinned to my left as the cliff of rock protruded into them and ahead the trees all but disappeared, instead becoming low shrubs and palms. I could hear a voice now, possibly Elena, and splashing as the last rumbles of large things coming to rest slowly ceased.

"Are you okay?" I heard Elena say somewhere off to my left as I came to a stop before some bushes that surrounded what appeared to be a large body of water.

"Yeah," came a reply, I took a much needed breath and turned to my left following the sounds.

"Oh!" exclaimed Elena. "Hey!"

I emerged past the last palm to find Nate lying on his back breathing heavily with his eyes shut as Elena, on her hands and knees was helping, to my relief, Sam out of the water. She pulled him up and he lay down, coughing, next to his brother. She then got to her feet.

"Freya, there you are," she said, acknowledging my presence while getting out her radio.

I nodded at her before returning my gaze to the brothers who were both just lying there getting their breath back.

"Hey Sully, we got 'em," said Elena into the receiver.

"Where are ya?" came his reply as Elena extracted the flare gun from the back of her trousers.

"We're right here," she said before pointing it at the sky and firing off the bright red flare.

Sully's plane appeared and he began to make the necessary adjustments so he could land on the water near by. Nate and Sam, having now got their breath back, slowly got to their feet as we waited for the plane to land. I looked them over as did Elena; Nate had a couple more injuries including a nastily looking laceration on his side which at that moment neither of them chose to explain and no one chose to ask them about. I think we were all just wanting to get off the island, even Sam.

Finally Sully landed and we all managed to board without getting too wet, not that Nate and Sam could get much wetter. Elena took the co-pilot seat next to Sully, I took once again what had been Sam's seat and Sam and Nate sat together in two of the side seats. Then Sully took off and as he circled round, so we were going in the correct direction for King's Bay, you could see the odd look mountain out the windows.

I saw Sam was looking at it as if it was still calling him. I caught Nate's eye and he looked from me to his brother and then out the window. Nate then caught Sam's eye and with a look he gave him a light bump on the leg and Sam half laughed. I saw Nate smile a little before turning, leaning his head back against the side of the plane and shutting his eyes with a sigh. Sam watched him for a moment before looking out the window again at the mountain.

I sighed to myself and turned to the cockpit.

"How long will it take us to get back to King's Bay do you think?" I queried in Sully's direction.

"About two hours maybe?" replied Sully. "Why?"

"Was just wondering," I said, glancing down at my hands.

They were filthy and had a few cuts on them that I could not remember how or when they had occurred. There was some mud under my finger nails and raising my left hand to the light from the window, I began to try and remove the worst of it. As I was doing so I caught Sam glancing at me.

"Yes?" I said to him.

He indicated to my hands.

"It's just mud," I replied. "I dislike the feel of it under my nails."

He nodded his understanding and then proceeded to alter his position in his seat, wincing as he did.

"You?" I said and his eyes immediately returned to mine before he shook his head. "Ok."

I went back to my nails. He then continued altering his position until he had stretched out his long legs and had slouched into the seat as best he could. I thought he might decide to get some sleep like his brother, whose head was already beginning to slip sideways as he fell into a deeper sleep, but Sam remained awake. Having finished the left hand I began on the right.

Outside the island was disappearing from view, replaced by ocean. I turned to Elena who looked on the verge of dozing herself.

"Are you guys going straight home when we get back?" I asked and she slowly turned to look at me.

"I've got to book the flights, but yeah we'll probably be going this evening," she replied with a yawn. "Are you wanting to book together?"

"That might be an idea," I said and she nodded.

"Or I can give you a lift, lass," suggested Sully.

"Maybe," I said, trying to decided.

I glanced back towards the brothers; I thought I had felt Sam's eyes on me, but he was looking at the pile of secured items at the other end of the plane. I then turned back to the cockpit and continued chatting.

Half an hour later, I turned back around in my seat to undo my seatbelt so I could get some water from my bag when I realised that finally Sam had given in to sleep. Nate's head had found a resting place upon Sam's shoulder and Sam's head was lent against Nate's. I smiled to myself and got up quietly so as not to disturb them. I carefully avoided Sam's legs and made my way to my bag, fished out the water bottle and then I remembered something. Moving over to another bag I opened it and pulled out, with some difficulty I might add, a couple of blankets. I then, after placing the bottle on my seat, carefully draped one over Nate and the other over Sam so that they sort of covered both of them. At least they would be warmer, I thought.

When the plane finally got into King's Bay the landing was a little bumpy, but it somehow did not wake the brothers in the slightest. Even when we finally stopped by the dock they did not stir and I left it to Elena to wake them as I got off and gratefully stood on the dock.

"Do you want to give me a hand, lass?" said Sully as he began tying the plane up.

"Um sure," I replied, turning to him. "What do you want me to do?"

"Tie off the other rope?" he said and I glanced at the one he meant.

"How?" I queried.

"Ah," he said as I heard voices from within the plane. "Well just hold it then so it doesn't go anywhere, okay?"

"Right you are," I said, taking up the damp rope in my hands.

Slowly Sam emerged from the plane and climbed onto the dock, stretching as he went. Nate and Elena followed as Sully now came over to me and took the rope from my hands. Once he was done, we all silently made our way up the dock and back through the streets to the motel.

Back in my room I went for a shower. I was grateful to be clean once more, but it drew attention to all the cuts and bruises I had acquired since the last time I had taken one. I took out some fresh clothes - ones I had originally brought for wondering around the Italian streets once I had finished with the auction - and put them on. I then made my way to Nate's room and knocked. Elena let me in with a smile and I found Nate and Sully were sat on one of the beds. Nate indicated I should sit too as Elena went to make some tea and he used the fact that Sam was still cleaning up to explain what had happened.

As I listened, I finally understood why the name of Hector Alcázar was familiar to me. He had been killed in a shootout about six months back and I finally remembered that I had seen it in the news back then when I had been round at my Dad's.

"So now you both know everything," said Nate as he finished.

Well, almost everything, I thought, but I somehow doubted I would ever get the answer I really wanted. Sully nodded at Nate and hearing next door's door go, I got up from the bed. Sam knocked and I went to open it. He still looked worse for wear, but he gave me a small smile as I stood back to let him in. Sully moved to a chair as Nate moved up so Sam had somewhere to sit. Elena then handed me a cup of tea before going to the side table and placing down a medical kit. She then indicated for Nate to remove his t-shirt so she could assess his wounds. I smiled as she set to work and putting my tea down I turned to Sam.

"Is it just the arm and face?" I asked, feeling a little nervous.

He nodded.

"Right," I said, moving forward.

"I'll be keeping my shirt on," he said, a smile playing on his lips and he gave his brother a glance.

Nate rolled his eyes at him.

"Ok," I said and I began to carefully undo the make-do bandage that was wrapped around the wound.

As I did it began bleeding but not heavily, blood trickling slowly down his arm. I quickly took a cloth from the medical kit to stem the flow, but Sam waved it away instead using the original scrappy bandage as pressure. I gave him an 'are you serious' look, but he just rolled his eyes at me. So I continued, heading to the bathroom to wet the cloth before proceeding to gently clean the wound and the area around it. I then took a needle and thread and taking a calming breath I made to set to work.

"You have done this before, right?" said Sam, causing me to pause and look at him.

"Yes, at least twice," I replied with a grin before nodding to Sully. "Sully taught me on himself."

Sam looked to Sully.

"And I can still use all my limbs," commented Sully with a smile.

"See," I said still grinning as Sam looked between us.

"Fine, go on," he said.

"Ok, just try and keep still," I said.

It took me several minutes to carefully stitch his wound and during that time Sam kept remarkably still. Once I had finished Sam glanced at his arm, evaluating my work, before seemingly deciding it was fine.

"Happy?" I asked.

"Not bad," he replied.

I nodded and then placed a bit of padding over it before wrapping a clean bandage around and securing it with tape. I then went to wash the cloth off a bit before returning to look at his face. The cut to his nose was not too deep, but I cleaned it gently none the less. I then put a small white plaster on it before taking a step back and studying the result. It looked fine. I glanced at Nate still having his wounds dealt with and then back at Sam. He looked me in the eye, his brow furrowed as he tried to read what I was thinking, but I turned away and reached for my tea.

"What?" queried Sam as I took a swig of tea and turned to look at him. "What is it?"

I saw the others all glance at Sam. I sighed.

"I was just thinking about all the people who died or betrayed each other for that treasure," I said and Sam's brow furrowed even more. "Not just Rafe and Shoreline, but all those colonists, soldiers and pirates and for what? What did any of them achieve? It's such a waste."

Sam was staring at me.

"I did not betray my brother," he said coldly.

"I never said you did," I said and I probably should have stopped there, but something about his actions got my back up. "But you did put him in danger."

"Freya…" I heard Nate say in warning.

"It's true," said Sam with a wave of his hand at Nate to stay out of it. "But I had to finish it."

"I know you had to," I said and he gave me a funny look. "Yet it still did not justify putting your life in danger, your brother's life, hell all our lives, did it?"

"I sacrificed fifteen-" he started before correcting himself, the anger in his voice building. "No, thirteen years of my life in prison. I had a right to go after that treasure and if I hadn't, all that would have been for what? Nothing!"

"Sometimes sacrifice is," I said, trying to stay calm.

"Okay, that's enough," said Nate, standing up.

Sam ignored him as he stood up too.

"And what would someone like you know of sacrifice, huh?" he sneered at me.

I stopped, whatever I had been planning to say had gone out my head. I felt pain and anger well up inside me. The conversation had gone way off course, but with those words Sam had cut me deep. I shook my head at him and turned before walking out the room and slamming the door behind me. I walked towards the pool trying to calm myself, but I heard the door open behind me.

"Sam, I wouldn't…" I heard Nate say.

"No, no we hadn't finished," he replied. "I want to hear what she has to say!"

I heard his footsteps behind me.

"Don't you walk away from me," he said as I stared at the water, but it was not helping me calm down in the slightest. "Come on then. What have you ever had to sacrifice that makes you so-"

"My life!" I snarled, rounding on him and making him stop in his tracks. "My future, my friends, everything! I gave it all up to look after my Mum and my reward…my reward was to watch the only person who ever truly got me, the person who made up half of my world, waste away. Can you imagine what that's like? To watch someone you love become little more then an empty husk? My friends couldn't. They told me I should sit with her near the end, but they did not understand that I couldn't because while she bore the face of my Mother, she wasn't her anymore."

I took a breath, Sam was silent, all his anger gone.

"It was dementia that killed her," I continued in a harsh tone. "That tore her away from my Dad and I, made her forget. She forgot me, her own daughter and that wasn't even the worst of it. Some of the things she said will haunt me forever because, whatever people say, I know at the time she meant them. She was only sixty-one when she died last year. We went through hell, but it taught me something. Life is more precious, more important then anything. It's something to be treasured and you should spend it, however fleeting it may be, doing what you love and being with those you love because you never know how long you've got. So yes, I do know about sacrifice, Sam. I know what it is like to lose…and I also know life is worth more than gold."

We stood looking at each other in silence for a moment before, with a sigh, I headed for my room. Behind him the others had come out of Nate's room and were stood watching in the shadow of the motel. They said nothing as I came back towards them, instead choosing to turn and head back into Nate's room. As I reached my door I took a glance back at Sam, just stood there in the dimming light as the sun began to set rapidly, before entering my room and locking the door behind me.

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So there we go. What did we think? I'm always interested to know. The next chapter will be the last, but if you would like to leave an opinion on this chapter then you all know what to do. :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from the Uncharted series, they belong to Naughty Dog. I do however own my character.

Hey, thanks to whitephoenix18 and Neon Jack for your reviews, they brighten my day. To whitephoenix18, thankyou, I'm happy you liked the way I have done this story. I really hope you enjoy the ending. To Neon Jack, thanks and we'll see about a sequel, but if I do one there will likely be less Americanisms as the plot and conversations will all be my own. I hope you enjoy the end.

Ok so this chapter is not a long one. It is an end and got its own chapter because it felt right to end the previous chapter where I did. Thank you to you all for reading this story (you'll find a bigger thank you at the end) and I hope you all enjoy this final instalment. So for the last time, read on dear readers, read on...

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 **Chapter 17**

What had I done? I could not believe it as I sank down next to my bed. Had I really just said all that to Sam, a man I hardly knew. It was not the sort of subject one broaches with someone who is practically a complete stranger and yet I had indeed done so. He pushed me, half of me argued, but still, countered the other half, did you see his face?

Sorrow. I had seen it in his eyes as he looked at me. I had wanted to make him understand but I wondered if I had gone too far, revealed too much. After all, he and Nate had clearly lost their mother, he knew what it was like to loose one, he understood that much. I shook my head, there was nothing I could do about it now.

I pushed myself up off the floor and retrieved my phone from my bag. I sat down on the bed and unlocked it, pausing for a second as I half expected to have someone take it off me, but of course no one did. The screen told me I had five new messages so I pushed on the open button on the touch screen and it displayed them. One was about roaming charges in Madagascar, one was about Orange offers, one was about a missed call that left no message and the fourth was about the two messages on my answering machine. Only the fifth and final message was actually important enough for me to open it and read the contents.

My bag was packed, the fluffy Ruffed lemur toy being the last item to be put in. I looked at the text message that told me my flight was in a hour and a half, before looking at the clock on the bedside table that said my taxi would be here in ten minutes. I was ready.

Putting my coat over my arm, I hoisted up my bag and with my room key in hand, I headed for the door. The cool evening air greeted me as I stepped out into the deserted pool area before making my way to Nate's door. I needed to tell Elena and Sully I would be getting my own flight. I felt slight apprehension as I knocked, hoping it would not be Sam who answered, but relaxed as Elena opened the door. She read me like a book.

"You're going aren't you?" she said and I saw Nate stick his head round the corner of the room.

I nodded.

"Taxi will be here soon," I said, glancing towards the car park.

"I guess you won't be coming down to the docks then?" said Nate as he came and joined Elena in the doorway.

"Nope, I've got a plane to catch," I said, noticing he was now in fresh clothes. "Sorry."

"Don't be," he said with a shake of his head. "It's not like you're never gonna see us again. You've got nothing to be sorry about."

"Fair enough," I said with a smile. "Right, better tell Sully too."

"He's in his room," said Elena as a door opened.

"Actually I'm right here," said Sully, coming to join us. "You're off then, lass?"

I nodded as a taxi then pulled in front of the gate and beeped its horn.

"Looks like you ride is here," he continued.

I looked at Sam's door, some part of me wishing it to open, but it remained firmly shut. Elena put an arm around me and the four of us walked towards the Ikopa's car park.

Upon reaching the waiting taxi, I left my bag with the others and first went to hand in my key. I then went to make my goodbyes. I hugged each of them, wishing them well and telling them to call or text me to let me know they got back safe. I then turned to pick my bag up, only to find it gone.

"He took it," said Elena, pointing to the boot of the taxi.

I thought she had meant the taxi driver, but as I walked round I discovered she in fact meant Sam. I looked at the bag in the boot and then at Sam who raised his hands in defence.

"I've done nothing to it," he said, stood there in the same t-shirt he had been wearing earlier.

"I didn't think you had," I said and he lowered his arms. "I'm just surprised that's all."

He nodded and remained silent. I looked at him and then began to turn to leave when a sudden feeling came over me and I turned back to him. I opened my mouth and then stopped and then turned to the boot. What the heck was I doing?

"Sam?" I started, turning to him, before realising he was already looking at me, watching me again yet I sensed no suspicion in his gaze.

I then took a step forward and kissed him. It was a simple, short, sweet kiss but it was something I just didn't do, I'd never had the courage to do, and so therefore it was as much of a shock to me as I guess it was for him.

I stood before him as he tried to take in what had happened, tried to understand. He stared at me seemingly not knowing what to do. His left hand moved up from his side before dropping down again and his mouth opened and shut several times before finally he just sort of stood there. You could of heard a pin drop.

I stepped back.

"Well, that's that, I guess," I said before I reached up and shut the boot, the lid of which had hidden it all.

I walked over to the passenger door.

"Bye guys," I said, waving as Sam slowly walked over to the others.

"Bye," came the general reply.

"Get home safe," added Elena as I opened the door.

"Oh I'm not going home," I said with a grin. "At least, not just yet."

They looked at me slightly confused.

"I've got me a dinosaur to wrangle in Italy," I continued with a wink before I slid into the passenger seat.

The airport terminal was thankfully not too crowded and once I had checked in, I found myself a little place to get something to eat. As I sat waiting for what I had ordered my mind wandered to Sam. What must he have thought, I wondered.

It had been completely spur-of-the-moment for me and I still could not believe I had done it. Complete madness probably brought on by all the life and death situations I concluded. I shook my head. I had clearly confused the hell out of him. I was not surprised, if I had been in his shoes I would have been confused too. I felt a sudden pang of regret at doing it at all until I confirmed for myself that it did not matter. He had not kissed me back and that was that.

A bowl of some sort of soup I had ordered arriving brought me back to reality. I had to prepare for the coming auction. The Rossi Estate, according to my txt message, had rearranged its auction giving me another chance at securing my prize. I doubted it would be too difficult, it was only a dinosaur after all, not some key to finding mountains of gold. This time, hopefully, it would go without a hitch, but then again it was an auction full of thieves or at least some dodgy folk, so who knew.

Glancing up at the board I noticed my flight had got a gate number. It was time to sup up and get moving. The adventure had come to an end, but I reminded myself, life is one big adventure, you never know what is coming around the next corner, or down some steps to try and break into a wine cellar.

I smiled to myself and headed for the gate.

Life is to be lived, so go out and do so.

* * *

Right, there we go, that's it. We have come to the end. What did we all think? Did we enjoy it? Now there might be a sequel, there might not, but keep an eye out all the same. If you would like one just let me know in the comments. You know what to do. :)

Right thank you to all my Reviewers. A great big thank you goes to **Neon Jack** who so far has managed to review all my chapters, thank you very much. To **whitephoenix18** who managed to review most of my chapters, thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed the ones you didn't review. To **Iamimanim** thank you for the few reviews you gave, I hope you have enjoyed this story. To **Guest** , **Cecilia Haunt** and **Mereryan** for giving me at least one review, all were appreciated. Thank you also to all the people who have favourited and followed and thank you to all my readers. I always hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing. Thanks again.

 **Thank you!**


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